Woylie
Bettongia ogilbyi
- Class
- Mammal
- Rarity
- Common
- Observations
- 157
- Most observed in
- 🇦🇺 Australia
Description
The woylie or brush-tailed bettong (Bettongia ogilbyi) is a small, near-threatened mammal native to forests and shrubland of Australia. A member of the rat-kangaroo family (Potoroidae), it moves by hopping and is active at night, digging for fungi to eat. It is also a marsupial and carries its young in a pouch. Once widespread across southern Australia, the woylie mostly died out from habitat loss and introduced predators such as foxes and feral cats. It is currently restricted to two small areas in Western Australia. There are four subspecies: both B. o. ogilbyi, and B. o. sylvatica, are extant and occur in small populations in the southwest, while B. o. odontoploica, and B. o. francisca are extinct.
Summary adapted from the Wikipedia article “Woylie”.