Abundance of Large Macropods in the Eastern Highlands of Australia

During 1987-1992 we carried out broad-scale ground surveys over a 344,400- km2 portion of the eastern highlands of Australia. We used walked line-transect counts to estimate the abundance of 3 large macropod species, the whiptail wallaby (Macropus parryi), common wallaroo (Macropus robustus), and eastern grey kangaroo (Macropus giganteus). The survey area encompassed 90% of the range of the whiptail wallaby, 45% of the range of M. robustus robustus, the mesic, eastern subspecies of the common wallaroo, and 20% of the range of the eastern grey kangaroo. Our estimate of 739,100 (SE = 100,200) whiptail wallabies would be close to the continental population, as the survey area included most of this species' range and habitat. The estimated 688,600 (SE = 83,200) common wallaroos may also be a significant proportion of the total population of the subspecies M. r. robustus, as this subspecies is thought to be sparse in unsurveyed parts of its range. Eastern grey kangaroo abundance was estimated to be 1,835,800 (SE = 246,800).