Hopping Down the Main Street: Eastern Grey Kangaroos at Home in an Urban Matrix

Most urban mammals are small. However, one of the largest marsupials, the Eastern Grey Kangaroo Macropus giganteus, occurs in some urban areas. In 2007, we embarked on a longitudinal study of this species in the seaside town of Anglesea in southern Victoria, Australia. We have captured and tagged 360 individuals to date, fitting each adult with a collar displaying its name. We have monitored survival, reproduction and movements by resighting, recapture and radio-tracking, augmented by citizen science reports of collared individuals. Kangaroos occurred throughout the town, but the golf course formed the nucleus of this urban population. The course supported a high density of kangaroos (2–5/ha), and approximately half of them were tagged. Total counts of kangaroos on the golf course were highest in summer, at the peak of the mating season, and lowest in winter, when many males but not females left the course. Almost all tagged adult females were sedentary, using only part of the golf course and adjacent native vegetation and residential blocks. In contrast, during the non-mating season (autumn and winter), many tagged adult males ranged widely across the town in a mix of native vegetation remnants, recreation reserves, vacant blocks, commercial properties and residential gardens. Annual fecundity of tagged females was generally high (≥70%), but survival of tagged juveniles was low (54%). We could not determine the cause of death of most juveniles. Vehicles were the major (47%) cause of mortality of tagged adults. Road-kills were concentrated (74%) in autumn and winter, and were heavily male biased: half of all tagged males died on roads compared with only 20% of tagged females. We predict that this novel and potent mortality factor will have profound, long-term impacts on the demography and behavior of the urban kangaroo population at Anglesea

Is camera trap videography suitable for assessing activity patterns in eastern grey kangaroos?

Camera traps are frequently used in wildlife research and may be a useful tool for monitoring behavioural patterns. The suitability of camera traps to monitor behaviour depends on the size, locomotion, and behaviour of the species being investigated. The suitability of cameras for documenting the behaviour of eastern grey kangaroos was assessed here by comparing activity patterns collected using cameras to published activity patterns for the species. The activity patterns calculated from camera trap data were largely consistent with data from previous studies, although nocturnal activity appeared to be under-represented. Observations of unusual fighting behaviour illustrates the potential for camera traps to enable capture of novel observations. Kangaroo behaviour appeared to be influenced by the presence of cameras; however, no kangaroos retreated from cameras. Data suggested that kangaroos became habituated to cameras after eight months. The findings of this study suggest that camera traps are suitable for assessing the diurnal activity of eastern grey kangaroos and are useful tools for documenting their behaviour