Australian scientists have confirmed the existence of a purple wallaby previously considered an Outback legend.
Almost 80 years ago a French-born Australian biologist, A. S. Le Souf, first described a wallaby - a smaller relative of the kangaroo - with purple fur around its face and neck in northwest Queensland, around the mining town of Mount Isa.
But scientists refused to believe the animal existed and the claim, made in 1924, was promptly discredited.
Since then, wildlife experts have been aware of rock wallabies with purple in their fur, but assumed it was a dye from plants or minerals. The creatures were lumped in with another species of wallaby.
Now, however, after eight years of research, scientists from Macquarie University in Sydney have revealed the wallabies do have purple fur.
Not only that, they represent a new species.
A team led by the university's Dr Mark Eldridge has named the species the purple-necked rock wallaby - Latin name Petrogale purpureicollis. No one knows how many there are, though the Macquarie team estimates a figure 'in the low thousands'.