Wild Wallabies research highlights benefits to environment

Wild wallabies on the Island have shed light on just how much the environment benefits from them.

 

Since the 1960s the population of small Australian natives has grown to just over 100 -  it's led to some residents fearing they are harming the natural landscape and other animals.

 

However a dissertation study carried out by Queen's University Belfast graduate Paige Havlin has revealed they maintain grasslands, disperse ticks from infecting humans and have even spread down to Peel.

 

She hopes to publish her thesis, the first full-length study since 2008, which did not look into wallabies outside of the reserve and focused on diet and population only.

 

Paige told us what her study has shown about Manx wallaby life and what the next step would be for researchers: