#bettongia

[mammalianmammals]

 Lesueur's rat-kangaroo or Burrowing Bettong or Boodie (Bettongia lesueur), family Potoroidae, order Diprotodontia

Once common throughout Australia, it is now restricted to a few coastal islands.

This species has been reintroduced to a few small areas on the mainland.

photographs: B. Leue, W. Lawler/AWC

[dendroica]

A northern bettong (Bettongia tropica), or rat-kangaroo, at a wildlife care house in Ravenshoe, Queensland, Australia. The species has suffered a dramatic population decline and is in danger of becoming extinct

Photograph: Stephanie Todd/James Cook University/WWF Australia/AFP/Getty Images

(via The week in wildlife – in pictures | Environment | The Guardian)

[animalids]

Tasmanian Bettong (Bettongia gaimardi) Also known as: southern bettong

Tasmanian Bettong were once common along the coastal areas of eastern Australia. Due to the introduction of the red fox and the European rabbit, this species of bettong is now extinct on the mainland, and has a ‘near threatened’ classification in Tasmania. They prefer dry, open eucalypt forests and grassy woodlands, and are nocturnal animals, spending daylight hours in a domed, camouflaged nest of grass. The tail is usually for balance, though they also use it to carry nesting material.

Classification Animalia - Chordata - Mammalia - Metatheria - Marsupialia - Australidelphia - Diprotodontia - Macropodiformes - Macropodoidea - Potoroidae - Potoroinae - Bettongia - B. gaimardi

Images: [x] [x] [x] Source: [x]

[libutron]

Boodie  (Burrowing Bettong, Lesueur's Rat Kangaroo) 

The Boodie, scientifically named Bettongia lesueur (Diprotodontia - Potoroidae), is a small Australian marsupial. Like a little kangaroo, the Boodie has well developed, muscular hind limbs and short muscular forearms. The head is small with a pointed muzzle, short rounded ears and beady black eyes. 

Boodies are listed as Near Threatened because its extent of occurrence is small and it is known from just 6-8 locations. It was formerly widespread in central, southern, and south-western parts of Australia, but the species was eradicated as a result of predation by introduced animals. However, it persists in insular populations on Bernier and Dorre Islands in Shark Bay (Western Australia) and on Barrow Island off the Pilbara coast. In 1992, after an absence of 50 years, the Boodie was successfully reintroduced to the Australian mainland.

References: [1] - [2] - [3]

Photo credit: ©Jeremy Ringma | Locality: unknown (Australia)