What is a pademelon?

Like kangaroos and wallabies, pademelons are marsupials in the Macropodidae family. Spot them in Tasmania or the Nightcap National Park near Byron Bay.

Detailed answer: Some native Australian creatures are so well known that they have become global ambassadors for the country. Visitors from all over the world come to see massive kangaroos, cuddle a koala and coo at adorable wallabies.

Then there are the sea creatures as well. The Penguin Parade at Phillip Island near Melbourne is hugely popular, as is swimming with whale sharks on the Ningaloo Reef near Exmouth in Western Australia.

You can also go kayaking with dolphins in Byron Bay, take a crocodile cruise of Yellow Water in Kakadu National Park and try snorkelling with Australian sea lions at Baird Bay on South Australia’s Eyre Peninsula.

Not all Australian animals are quite as well known, however. Very few visitors will have heard of the woylies that hang out near Busselton in Western Australia, for example.

What is a pademelon?

Then there are pademelons. Poor old pademelons – no-one ever puts them first on the list.

A pademelon in the Mt Field National Park, Tasmania. Photo courtesy of Tourism Australia.

But what is a pademelon, exactly? Well, they’re marsupials that are part of the Macropodidae family that also includes kangaroos. They have similarly structured bodies to wallabies and kangaroos, and get around by hopping.

They’re smaller than either, though. Pademelons generally only grow to half a metre tall, and weigh a maximum of 12kg. Aside from height, the way to tell them apart from wallabies is looking at the tail. Pademelons have shorter, thicker tails than wallabies.

So where can you see a pademelon in the wild? Well, there are seven different species – some of which live in New Guinea. They generally like living in rainforest and wet sclerophyll forests, which can make them difficult to see in the wild.

Red-necked pademelons live on the east coast of Australia, in New South Wales and Queensland. A good place to spot them is the Nightcap National Park, where Vision Walks runs after-dark tours using night vision goggles from Byron Bay.

Pademelons in Tasmania’s national parks

Tasmania is realistically the best place in Australia to see pademelons, however. Red-bellied pademelons are plentiful in Australia’s smallest state. If you want to track one down, try the Mt William National Park or Mt Field National Park.