Rufous Bettong

Also known as the Rufous Rat-kangaroo. While it is solitary it may feed with others. Sleeps during the day in a nest lined with soft, dry grass at the base of a grass tussock. Carries nest material with its prehensile tail. A nest builder like the potoroos and other bettongs this small macropod lives in well grassed open forest.

During the day it sleeps in a cone-shaped nest constructed over a shallow excavation usually at the base of a tussock it lines with soft dry grass and has an entrance. Grass for the nest is collected in the mouth and carried in the tail. As new grass is brought to the nest it is placed under the older material which is lifted by the animal’s snout.

At night the Rufous Bettong feeds on grasses and herbs and forages for roots and tubers dug from the ground with its strongly clawed forelegs, it seems that under normal conditions this diet provides all its water requirements but it has been observed to drink in times of drought.

It normally moves quite slowly by placing the forelegs on the ground and bringing the hindlegs forward together while the body is slightly supported by the tail, when alarmed it stamps its hindfeet like a rabbit.

This species is now extinct in victoria.

It once lived all along the Murray-Darling River System. Unfortunately, it could not survive the impacts of the introduced Fox and Cat to Australia.

Food: Grasses, roots and tubers, which are dug up with the forelimbs.

Breeding: One young is born at anytime of the year. The young vacates the pouch when it is around sixteen weeks old, but remains with the mother for another seven weeks.

Habitat: Well-grassed open forests in eastern Queensland and New South Wales and a small area of Victoria.

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