An animals nutritional needs will vary throughout its life, being greater during growth and development or during reproductive activity, and lesser during resting adult stages. Both the parma wallaby and the red kangaroo are fore-gut fermenters, which means they have a larger and more complex fore stomach required for microbial fermentation of plant material (Hume I.D. et al., 1989). Although the parma wallaby is restricted to eating at night to avoid predators, the red kangaroos are not, but both are restricted by seasonal changes and heat from the sun during summer months (Jarman P.J., 1984). To avoid overheating and to maintain proper thermoregulation, the red kangaroo typically spends more time seeking shade than eating and the parma wallaby is restricted to strictly eating at night. There have been recored sightings of the parma wallaby out during rainy and overcast days in the early morning and late afternoon but this is fairly rare behaviour for most parma wallabies (Russell E.M., 1974). A possible explanation for why the parma wallaby typically eats at night and alone could be because, according to Jarman P.J., smaller species require highly nutritious plant material to obtain enough energy to survive, compared to larger marsupials that can survive on poorer quality foods. This need for highly nutritious food would lead to serious "intra-group competition" therefore they choose to feed alone to avoid this (Jarman P.J., 1984). Also, parma wallaby are smaller and unable to fight or outrun a predator, unlike the red kangaroo which is much larger and faster, therefore eating alone and at night has the advantage of being more discrete and allowing the parma wallaby to hide itself well in surrounding bushes or grass, whereas a larger group would be more obvious to a predator (Jarman P.J, 1984).
The diet of the parma wallaby includes grasses and herbs found on the floor of wet sclerophyll forests, some of which include tussock grasses (i.e. red tussock; C. rubra) (Maynes G.M., 1977), paspalum (grass) and white clover (Warburton B., 2005), and the red kangaroo also eats an assortment of grasses and grass flowerhead's (Jarman P.J., 1984). Unlike other mammalian species, neither the parma wallaby nor the red kangaroo migrate during seasonal changes, rather they stay relatively sedentary and simply eat whatever is seasonally available to them (Jarman P.J., 1984) but both show a preference to eating grass over other plant material (Munn A.J., Dawson T.J. & McLeod S.R., 2010). When grass is scarce, Red kangaroos will still show a preference for grass however they will eat higher proportions of round-leafed and flat-leafed chenopods to meet their energy needs (Munn A.J., Dawson T.J. & McLeod S.R., 2010).
Below are various tables that show the nutrient break down for three types of grasses that are eaten by parma wallaby; Red tussock (C. rubra), paspalum and white clover. The break down for both white clover and paspalum are given for different seasons.
The diet of the parma wallaby includes grasses and herbs found on the floor of wet sclerophyll forests, some of which include tussock grasses (i.e. red tussock; C. rubra) (Maynes G.M., 1977), paspalum (grass) and white clover (Warburton B., 2005), and the red kangaroo also eats an assortment of grasses and grass flowerhead's (Jarman P.J., 1984). Unlike other mammalian species, neither the parma wallaby nor the red kangaroo migrate during seasonal changes, rather they stay relatively sedentary and simply eat whatever is seasonally available to them (Jarman P.J., 1984) but both show a preference to eating grass over other plant material (Munn A.J., Dawson T.J. & McLeod S.R., 2010). When grass is scarce, Red kangaroos will still show a preference for grass however they will eat higher proportions of round-leafed and flat-leafed chenopods to meet their energy needs (Munn A.J., Dawson T.J. & McLeod S.R., 2010).
Below are various tables that show the nutrient break down for three types of grasses that are eaten by parma wallaby; Red tussock (C. rubra), paspalum and white clover. The break down for both white clover and paspalum are given for different seasons.
Requirements for trace minerals have not been well defined for many marsupial species, however vitamin E is known to be an important vitamin for many marsupials (Hume I.D., 1989). A deficiency of vitamin E in some species of smaller wallabies is known to cause nutritional muscular dystrophy which manifests as degeneration of muscles of the hind limbs; this can be reversed if damage is not too severe by supplementing vitamin E in the diet of the wallabies (Hume I.D., 1989).