Kangaroo Population Trends In The Australian Rangelands, 1980-87

This paper presents results from the third set of extensive aerial surveys of Australia's kangaroo populations, flown in 1987. Although it is now known that sightability correction factors used in the first two surveys were too low, particularly for both species of grey kangaroos, we retain the same corrections to allow for comparability between surveys. Total populations declined by 22% for Reds and 34% each for Greys, but trends were not consistent across the continent. Decreases were occurred throughout the eastern pastoral zones, being most pronounced in NSW and least pronounced in Queensland. Declines in these areas and in the South Australian Pastoral Zone corresponded with the 1982-83 drought. In contrast, populations rose in WA, where there had been good rainfall