A dark-coated wallaby that shelters in dense forest undergrowth.
It has a stocky body and dark brown fur. Rusty patches may appear on the belly, chest and ear bases.
A herbivorous Swamp Wallaby does not eat only grass. On North Stradbroke Island in southeastern Queensland, a study of stomach contents from 34 road-killed animals found shrubs, forbs, grasses, ferns and fungi.
Grasses were most common, followed by shrubs. Plants found in the stomachs tended to contain more nitrogen than other plants of the same broad category at the site. Some frequently eaten grasses were fibrous, yet still had nitrogen levels similar to or higher than native shrubs in most seasons. The study suggested the wallabies selected for nitrogen content rather than simply avoiding fibre. Looking at nutrients as well as plant names reveals another layer of how they use local vegetation.
IUCN Red List · Least Concern (LC) · Global species-level assessment
The 2016 IUCN global assessment lists the Swamp Wallaby as Least Concern (LC). The North Stradbroke Island diet study describes local food selection; it does not assess a change in the species’ global population.