Columbia University Press Kangaroos in Outback Australia: Comparative Ecology and Behavior of Three Coexisting Species

Examines the comparative ecology and behavior of three different species of kangaroo on Yathong Nature Reserve in Australia, based on data collected by the authors over a period of 15 months. Research involving systematic counts, radio telemetry, and direct observation reveals insight on different species' population sizes, home ranges and movements, activity patterns, feeding behavior, and social organization. Includes b&w photos. Dale McCullough teaches wildlife biology in the College of Natural Resources, University of California-Berkeley; Yvette McCullough teaches science at Martin Luther King Middle School. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com) A topic of perpetual fascination, the kangaroos of Australia have been the focus of myriad books and documentaries. Kangaroos in Outback Australia focuses on Yathong Nature Reserve, where three species of kangaroo—red, eastern grey, and western grey—overlap and create a unique opportunity for ecological study. Dale and Yvette McCullough spent fifteen months in Yathong examining the comparative ecology and behavior of the different species. The McCulloughs used systematic counts, radio telemetry, direct observations, and other techniques to characterize and compare the different species' population sizes, home ranges and movements, activity patterns, habitat selection, feeding behavior, and social organization.The researchers' previous work on the kangaroos' closest ecological counterparts in North America, the white-tailed and the mule deer, serves as a subject for comparison and enlarges the overall scope of the work. Kangaroos in Outback Australia focuses on Yathong Nature Reserve, where three species of kangaroo--red, eastern grey, and western grey--overlap and create a unique opportunity for ecological study. The McCulloughs used systematic counts, radio telemetry, direct observations, and other techniques to characterize and compare the different species' population sizes, home ranges and movements, activity patterns, habitat selection, feeding behavior, and social organization. Autorid: Dale McCullough, Yvette McCullough