Macropod hybrid

A hybrid (juvenile) of a red kangaroo and an eastern grey kangaroo, Rothschild Museum, Tring

Macropod hybrids are hybrids of animals within the family Macropodidae, which includes kangaroos and wallabies. Several macropod hybrids have been experimentally bred, including:

Male Female Result
Eastern wallaroo,
Osphranter robustus robustus		 Red kangaroo,
O. rufus		 Infertile female*
Swamp wallaby,
Wallabia bicolor		 Red-necked wallaby,
M. rufogriseus		 Sterile male†
Agile wallaby,
M. agilis		 Red-necked wallaby,
M. rufogriseus		 Sterile male†
Tammar wallaby,
M. eugenii		 Black-striped wallaby,
M. dorsalis		 Sterile male†
Western grey kangaroo,
M. fuliginosus		 Eastern grey kangaroo,
M. giganteus		 Sterile male and fertile female
Red kangaroo,
O. rufus‡		 Eastern grey kangaroo,
M. giganteus
Tammar wallaby,
M. eugenii		 Parma wallaby,
M. parma
Tammar wallaby,
M. eugenii		 Pademelon,
Thylogale species
  • * May have been so poorly fertile as to be considered sterile
  • † Although the males had testes, they did not produce sperm and some were found to have Y-chromosome abnormalities.
  • ‡ In-vitro fertilization used

Some hybrids between similar species have been achieved by housing males of one species and females of the other together to limit the choice of a mate. To create a "natural" macropod hybrid, young animals of one species have been transferred to the pouch of another so as to imprint into them the other species. In-vitro fertilization has also been used and the fertilized egg implanted into a female of either species.[1][unreliable source]

References

  1. ^ "Hybrid Marsupials". MessyBeast.com.
  • Poole, W. E. (1975). "Reproduction in the Two Species of Grey Kangaroos, Macropus giganteus Shaw and M. fuliginosus (Desmarest): II. Gestation, Parturition and Pouch Life". Australian Journal of Zoology. 23 (3): 333–353. doi:10.1071/ZO9750333.
  • Smith, M. J.; Hayman, D. L.; Hope, R. M. (1979). "Observations on the chromosomes and reproductive systems of four macropodine interspecific hybrids". Australian Journal of Zoology. 27 (6): 959–972. doi:10.1071/ZO9790959.