Coulson, G, Alviano, P, Ramp, D & Way, S 1970, 'The kangaroos of Yan Yean: History of a problem population', Proceedings of the Royal Society of Victoria, pp. 121-130.
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The catchment of Yan Yean Reservoir is situated on the rural fringe of Melbourne, southeastern Australia, and supports a large population of eastern grey kangaroos (Macropus giganteus Shaw) Yan Yean has a mean annual rainfall of 667 mm, which is distributed evenly throughout the year. Eight prominent eucalypt associations occur in the catchment and a total of 310 plant species have been recorded, including a number of threatened taxa as well as invasive weeds. Yan Yean also has a rich vertebrate fauna: 37 mammal, 155 bird, 28 reptile and 18 amphibian species. We have distinguished five habitat zones in the catchment and adjacent farmland, each reflecting a different land-use history. The first human inhabitants, the Wurunjerri-baluk people, were displaced initially by European settlers who began to log, graze and crop the area in the 1830s, and then by construction of the Yan Yean Reservoir in the 1880s. The catchment is closed to the public. Despite the construction of a kangaroo-proof fence, kangaroos have been a source of problems within the catchment and surrounding agricultural land for five decades. The population has been the focus of research into a number of aspects of ecology, particularly population dynamics, demography and parasitology. Despite a variety of techniques used and areas covered, previous surveys of population size have returned estimates ranging between 1770 and 3000 kangaroos, with little evidence of change since the 1960s.
