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An Early European Description of an Australasian Mammal

Abstract

THE first description to reach Europe of a member of the kangaroo family is generally held to be that of the Dutchman Pelsaert in 16291. He described from Western Australia an animal like a civet cat with short fore-legs and long hind-legs the young of which grew out of a pouch attached to nipples. This has been identified as one of the scrub wallabies, Protemnodon (Thylogale) eugenii1,2.

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References

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GEORGE, W. An Early European Description of an Australasian Mammal. Nature 202, 1130–1131 (1964). https://doi.org/10.1038/2021130a0

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