THE PARMA WALLABY
Conservation strategies and captive breeding programs have been the recent aim for many wildlife researchers and conservationists due to the constant declining geographical range of the Parma wallaby, Macropus parma, which is mainly due to predation and forest clearing. The M. parma was believed to be extinct in Australia in 1957 , but wild populations had been found in New South Wales, Australia around 1965 (Read D.G. & Barry J.F., 1991) and on the island of Kawau, New Zealand. This discovery lead to the beginning of captive breeding programs by certain zoos as well as conservation parks around the world in hopes of re-growing the wild population in Australia and to prevent the extinction of the species (Read D.G. & Barry J.F., 1991).
There is very limited data on the parma wallaby in the wild therefore much of the information presented is extrapolated from experiments and observation of parma wallaby in captivity or from a similar, related species, the red-necked pademelon (Thylogale thetis).