Red-legged Pademelon

Due to land clearance, red-legged pademelons have suffered a reduction in range, but they still remain common where the habitat remains, and they are not seriously disturbed by selective loggings. Distribution is discontinuous, especially in the north where it appears to be limited by the availability of vegetation providing satisfactory cover. The red-legged pademelon seems to prefer rainforest areas, but is also found near both sclerophyll and dry vine scrubs. Extensive rainforest clearing has reduced its available habitat, but sufficient parks and reserves currently exist throughout their range to secure their status. Forest clearing may benefit the red-legged pademelon to a certain point. A higher number of forest fragments means the pademelons have more adequate pastures that provide them with sufficient food. Only two types of subspecies inhabit Australia; Thylogale stigmatica and the Thylogale wilcoxi.

Red-legged pademelons mainly eat fallen leaves, but sometimes they eat fresh leaves. They also feed on fruits and berries from shrubs, the Moreton Bay Fig from the southern part of its range and the fruit of the Burdekin plum from the northern part. The Moreton Bay Fig and the Burdekin Plum are major food sources. They sometimes eat the fishbone fern, king orchid, and grasses like Paspalum notatum and Cyrtococcum oxyphyllum. Red-legged pademelons eat the bark of trees and cicadas. They affect regeneration of the rainforest as they browse on the young trees and can seriously impede their growth or even kill them. They are one of the very few animals, and the only known mammal, that can eat the leaves of the Gympie Gympie (Dendrocnide moroides), whose undersides are coated in thousands of fine silica needles that can inject a potent neurotoxin.