Let’s look at a few of the varieties of wallabies living in Australia, New Guinea and neighboring islands. These animals in the kangaroo family vary in size from twelve to forty inches, plus a ten- to twenty-eight-inch tail, and weigh from four pounds to over fifty.
One of the largest is the brush kangaroo because in size and activities it appears more like a kangaroo than anything else. Another large one, the most commonly encountered and best known, is the rednecked. It is particularly noted for the great jumps it can make.
Then there is the sure-footed rock wallaby, provided by the Creator with special thick pads of rough skin on its hind feet to give it a good grip on the rocks where it lives. It is stocky and unusually powerful, jumping and dashing around on rocks and precipices, making great leaps from cliffs and from rock to rock. Most of these are red in color with large, upright ears, large eyes and fine, long fur.
Another of the wallaby family is known as the ring-tailed, because of the pretty bands of white, brown and pale yellow that circle its tail. The shrub wallaby is among the smaller ones. Each mother in this group seems to have a problem with her lively youngster that hops in and out of her pouch every time she stops to rest or eat. Unable to teach it good manners, she sometimes will not let it in again until it gets back on good behavior. (So you see the mothers of lively boys and girls aren’t the only ones who have problems!)
It’s not hard to understand how the spectacled hare variety got its name, for each eye is circled by a light orange ring, which looks like a pair of glasses. One that has an unusual tail also has an unusual name - the nail-tailed. It has a horny spike at the tip of its tail, and no one seems to know just what its purpose may be.
The hare wallaby, named for its size and movements, can jump higher than a man’s head. Like a rabbit that twists and jumps, it usually leaves its enemy far behind and is quite a sight to watch.
There are more of these unusual creatures, but we will have to stop with these few. How nice to know that the Creator doesn’t overlook any of them. They also give us reason to think about His wisdom in every area of His wonderful creation, as the opening Bible verse tells us. We must never forget that He made us a very special part of His creation, and we should always seek to please Him.
ML-12/29/2002