The Superfamily Macropodoidea includes kangaroos, wallabies, potoroos, bettongs and the musky rat-kangaroo (Hypsiprymnodon moschatus), collectively referred to here as ‘macropods’.

Macropods are commonly held in zoos. Sick, injured and orphaned macropods are fre­quently presented for treatment and rehabilitation. Free- ranging populations of many species are at risk, and are the subject of recovery programs often involving translo­cations and managed breeding for release.

This chapter, complemented by several other chapters and appendices within this volume, presents advances in macropod medicine since the publication of the first edi­tion of Medicine of Australian Mammals. The medicine and pathology of macropods is covered comprehensively in Vogelnest and Portas (2008), Ladds (2009), Vogelnest and Allan (2015) and Vogelnest (2015); this chapter should be read alongside these texts.

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