Wallaby in the context of "Macropodidae"

Marsupials are a diverse group of mammals belonging to the infraclass Marsupialia. They are natively found in Australasia, Wallacea, and the Americas. One of marsupials' unique features is their reproductive strategy: the young are born in a relatively undeveloped state and then nurtured within a pouch on their mother's abdomen.

Extant marsupials encompass many species, including kangaroos, koalas, opossums, possums, Tasmanian devils, wombats, wallabies, and bandicoots.

Kangaroos are marsupials from the subfamily Macropodinae (macropods, meaning "large foot"). In common use, the term is used to describe the largest species from this family, the red kangaroo, as well as the antilopine kangaroo, eastern grey kangaroo, and western grey kangaroo. Kangaroos are indigenous to Australia and New Guinea. The Australian government estimates that 42.8 million kangaroos lived within the commercial harvest areas of Australia in 2019, down from 53.2 million in 2013.

As with the terms "wallaroo" and "wallaby", "kangaroo" refers to a paraphyletic grouping of species. All three terms refer to members of the same taxonomic family, Macropodidae, and are distinguished according to size. The largest species in the family are called "kangaroos" and the smallest are generally called "wallabies". The term "wallaroos" refers to species of an intermediate size. There are also the tree-kangaroos, another type of macropod which inhabit the upper branches of trees in the tropical rainforests of New Guinea, far northeastern Queensland, and some of the islands in the region. A general idea of the relative size of these informal terms could be:

Wallaroo /wɒləˈruː/ is a common name for several species of moderately large macropods, intermediate in size between the kangaroos and the wallabies, that are native to Australia and Papua New Guinea. The word "wallaroo" is from the Dharug walaru with spelling influenced by the words "kangaroo" and "wallaby".

Pademelons (/ˈpædimɛlən/) are small marsupials in the genus Thylogale, found in Australia, New Guinea, and surrounding islands. They are some of the smallest members of the macropod family, which includes the similar-looking but larger kangaroos and wallabies. Pademelons are distinguished by their small size and their short, thick, and sparsely haired tails. Like other marsupials, they carry their young in a pouch.

The quokka (/ˈkwɒkə/; Setonix brachyurus) is a small macropod about the size of a domestic cat. It is the only member of the genus Setonix. Like other marsupials in the macropod family (such as kangaroos and wallabies), the quokka is herbivorous and mainly nocturnal.

The quokka's range is a small area of southwestern Australia. They inhabit some smaller islands off the coast of Western Australia, particularly Rottnest Island just off Perth and Bald Island near Albany. Isolated, scattered populations also exist in forest and coastal heath between Perth and Albany. A small colony inhabits a protected area of Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve, where they co-exist with the critically endangered Gilbert's potoroo.

The Macropodiformes (/mækroʊˈpɒdɪfɔːrmiːz/), also known as macropods, are one of the three suborders of the large marsupial order Diprotodontia. They may in fact be nested within one of the suborders, Phalangeriformes. Kangaroos, wallabies and allies, bettongs, potoroos and rat kangaroos are all members of this suborder.

The black-flanked rock-wallaby (Petrogale lateralis), also known as the black-footed rock-wallaby or warru, is a species of wallaby, one of several rock-wallabies in the genus Petrogale. A shy, nocturnal herbivore, its two main subspecies are found in mostly isolated populations across western and southern Western Australia (WA), the Northern Territory and parts of South Australia (SA). With some subspecies showing a decline in populations in recent years, the whole species is classed as an endangered species under the Commonwealth EPBC Act.

A purr or whirr is a tonal fluttering sound made by some species of felids, including both larger, wild cats and the domestic cat (Felis catus), as well as two species of genets and the Caquetá titi monkey (Plecturocebus caquetensis). It varies in loudness and tone among species and in the same animal. In smaller and domestic cats it is known as a purr, while in larger felids, such as the cheetah, it is called a whirr.

Although true purring is exclusive to felids and viverrids, other animals such as raccoons produce vocalizations that sound similar to true purring. Animals that produce purr-like sounds include mongooses, kangaroos, wallabies, wallaroos, badgers, rabbits and guinea pigs.