Parma wallaby is a small, rare relative of the kangaroo. It is a kind of wallaby. It is about 11/2 foot (45 centimeters) long with a tail of about the same length. It has a brown back and white throat and chest. There is a dark stripe along the spine and a white stripe on the upper cheek.
From the 1930’s to the 1960’s, the parma wallaby was thought to be extinct. A colony was found in 1965 on a small island off the New Zealand coast, where the animals had been introduced about 100 years previously. Another colony of parma wallabies was soon discovered in the native habitat, the eucalyptus forests of northeastern New South Wales.
Parma wallabies are nocturnal and are generally solitary. They hop about with their forearms tucked tightly into the chest. When they move about, the body is held almost horizontally to the ground.