The tammar wallaby was seen in the Houtman Abrolhos off Western Australia by survivors of the 1629 Batavia shipwreck, and recorded by François Pelsaert in his 1629 Ongeluckige Voyagie.

The island's French name was given in honour of Eugene Hamelin, caption of the ship Naturaliste;[4]: 333  whose name is now the specific name of the tammar wallaby.

The common name of the animal is derived from the thickets of the shrub locally known as tamma (Allocasuarina campestris) that sheltered it in Western Australia.

[9][10] Fossil evidence of the tammar wallaby exists from the Late Pleistocene Era – remains were found in the Naracoorte Caves.

The researchers proposed dividing the species into two subspecies; the subspecific name eugenii for South Australian tammars and derbianus for those from Western Australia.

As it leaps back off the ground, the tammar wallaby can recover much of this energy for reuse through elastic recoil.

This is particularly helpful for mothers carrying young,[17] and explains why tammar wallabies can increase their hopping speed without using more energy.

[21] The pinna (ear) of the tammar wallaby is mobile, allowing it to track sounds from different parts of its surroundings without moving its head.

[22] When born, a tammar wallaby's sense of smell is already developed; this allows the newborn to find its mother's pouch by scent.

[24] To prevent dehydration, tammar wallabies urinate less and suck up water from the distal colon, which gives them relatively dry feces.

[25][4]: 335 During the day, tammar wallabies stay close to scrub for shade and move out to more open grassland by nightfall.In winter their home ranges are about 16 ha (40 acres), but in the dry summers they range further afield to search for quality food, needing about 42 ha (100 acres) of space.

[27] Predators of the tammar wallaby include dingoes, feral cats, red foxes and wedge-tailed eagles.

[33] Around two weeks prior to the first births, the males start checking the reproductive status of the females by sniffing their urogenital openings and pouches.

To balance out the sex ratios, tammar mothers are more likely to abandon male joeys and more females survive to weaning periods.

Phase 2A encompasses the first 100–120 days after birth, and the underdeveloped young is fed diluted milk which is richer in carbohydrates than proteins and lipids.

[5] In one population of tammar wallabies, the tick species Ixodes hirsti was found to infest them during autumn and winter while those of the genus Amblyomma were more common in spring and summer.

[41] In late 1998 and again in early 1999, 120–230 tammar died suddenly in research facilities and zoos in New South Wales and Queensland, perishing less than 12 hours after their sickness was discovered, with most showing no symptoms prior.

[46] Since European colonisation, tammar wallabies on both mainland Australia and some of the islands have greatly declined or even been eradicated.

In the early 20th century, the mainland population in Western Australia was described as numerous throughout the southwest, but declining in agricultural areas to the north.

Starting in the 19th century, tammar wallabies in the Eyre Peninsula and around Adelaide were decimated by mobs of hunters protecting agriculture.

[4]: 332–33 Tammar wallabies from these areas were introduced to Kawau Island in New Zealand by Sir George Grey in 1870.

[51] In 1985, tammar wallabies were introduced to the North Island of the Houtman Abrolhos and have made similar impacts on native vegetation.

[52]: 82–83  In 2003, the Monarto Zoo temporarily kept 85 tammar wallabies from New Zealand awaiting reintroduction to the Innes National Park on the Yorke Peninsula in South Australia.

[54] Tammar wallaby were reintroduced to Kalbarri National Park in 2010 though the project was not considered successful as the majority of radio-collared individuals did not last more than a year.

Mainland Western Australian tammar wallabies appear to be the most resistant, while those on Kangaroo Island are much more vulnerable.

[34] Saunders and colleagues (2017) have suggested the bipedal tammar as a better model for research into human spinal cord injuries than quadrupedal rodents.

[57] Tammar wallabies are easy to keep in captivity as they are non-aggressive, can adjust to surgeries and reproduce easily, requiring just one male for five females.

Tammar wallabies used for scientific study are generally housed in outdoor pens with enough water and shelter, instead of a laboratory.

Marsupials are at a convenient degree of evolutionary divergence from humans; mice are too close and have not developed many different functions, while birds are genetically too remote.

[62] A 2017 molecular study of the tammar and the mink found the potential involvement of EGF, FOXO, CDKN1A in controlling mammalian embryonic diapause.