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Bettongia Penicillata At Duisburg Zoo (1)
Bettongs, species of the genus ''Bettongia'', are potoroine marsupials once common in Australia. They are important ecosystem engineers displaced during the colonisation of the continent, and are vulnerable to threatening factors such as altered fire regimes, land clearing, pastoralism and introduced predatory species such as the fox and cat. Conservation status All species of the genus have been severely affected by ecological changes since the European settlement of Australia. Those that have not become extinct became largely confined to islands and protected reserves and are dependent on re-population programs. The diversity of the genus was poorly understood before their extirpation from the mainland, and new taxa have been identified in specimens newly discovered and already held in museum collections. In 2021 August, 40 Bettongs were released in different parts of South Australia; they were raised in captivity to increase their numbers. Taxonomy Four extant species ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eastern Bettong
The eastern bettong (''Bettongia gaimardi''), also known as the southern or Tasmanian bettong, is a small, hopping, rat-like mammal native to grassy forests of southeastern Australia and Tasmania. A member of the rat-kangaroo family (Potoroidae), it is active at night and feeds on fungi and plant roots. Like other marsupials, it carries its young in a pouch. The eastern bettong is under pressure by introduced predators and habitat loss. The subspecies on mainland Australia (''B. g. gaimardi'') is extinct, but populations of the Tasmanian subspecies (''B. g. cuniculus'') have been reintroduced there.Rose, R. (1997). Metabolic rate and thermal conductance in a mycophagous marsupial, ''Bettongia gaimardi'''. The World Wide Web Journal of Biology 2: 2-7. The animal is called ''balbo'' by the Ngunnawal, an Aboriginal people who used to keep them as pets. Subspecies Two formerly recognised species, ''Bettongia cuniculus'' (Tasmanian bettong) and ''Bettongia gaimardi'' (eastern betton ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bettongia Gaimardi
The eastern bettong (''Bettongia gaimardi''), also known as the southern or Tasmanian bettong, is a small, hopping, rat-like mammal native to grassy forests of southeastern Australia and Tasmania. A member of the rat-kangaroo family (Potoroidae), it is active at night and feeds on fungi and plant roots. Like other marsupials, it carries its young in a pouch. The eastern bettong is under pressure by introduced predators and habitat loss. The subspecies on mainland Australia (''B. g. gaimardi'') is extinct, but populations of the Tasmanian subspecies (''B. g. cuniculus'') have been reintroduced there.Rose, R. (1997). Metabolic rate and thermal conductance in a mycophagous marsupial, ''Bettongia gaimardi'''. The World Wide Web Journal of Biology 2: 2-7. The animal is called ''balbo'' by the Ngunnawal, an Aboriginal people who used to keep them as pets. Subspecies Two formerly recognised species, ''Bettongia cuniculus'' (Tasmanian bettong) and ''Bettongia gaimardi'' (eastern bettong ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caloprymnus
The desert rat-kangaroo (''Caloprymnus campestris''), also called the buff-nosed rat-kangaroo, plains rat-kangaroo or oolacunta,Tony Robinson & Tiana Forrest (2012A possible sighting of the Desert Rat-kangaroo or Oolacunta (''Caloprymnus campestris'') on the Peake Station, South Australia''The South Australian Naturalist'', 86(2) Jul-Dec 2012. Retrieved 8 May 2016. is an extinct small hopping marsupial endemic to desert regions of Central Australia. It was first recorded in the early 1840s and described by John Gould in London in 1843, on the basis of three specimens sent to him by George Grey, the governor of South Australia at the time. Description It was formed like a kangaroo, but had the bulk of a small rabbit, and was described as having a delicate and slender form. The length of the head and body combined is estimated to be about 254–282 mm in addition to a 307 to 377 mm long tail. Its head was short, blunt, and wide, different from that of any kangaroo or walla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bettongia Pusilla
The Nullarbor dwarf bettong, ''Bettongia pusilla'', was a potoroine marsupial that occurred in Australia. The animal is only known from skeletons found in caves of the Nullarbor Plain and is now classified as recently extinct. Taxonomy The Nullarbor dwarf bettong was a species of ''Bettongia'', a genus that includes still living species such as the northern bettong, belonging to the subfamily Potoroinae. The description was first published in 1997 by R. A. McNamara, using specimens collected on the Nullarbor Plain from the Koonalda and Weekes Caves. The holotype is part of a juvenile's right jaw, with some teeth absent, obtained at the Koonalda site. The author recognised an earlier description, misidentified as ''Caloprymnus campestris'' by Ernest Lundelius and William D. Turnbull in 1984, and the informal reference to an potoroid species. McNamara's paper on the new species details his diagnosis as arising independently, but gives credit for the discovery to earlier worker's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bettongia Lesueur
The boodie (''Bettongia lesueur''), also known as the burrowing bettong or Lesueur's rat-kangaroo, is a small, furry, rat-like mammal native to Australia. Once common throughout the continent, it is now restricted to a few coastal islands. A member of the rat-kangaroo family (Potoroidae), it lives in burrows and is active at night when it forages for fungi, roots, and other plant matter. It is about the size of a rabbit and, like other marsupials, carries its young in a pouch. Before European settlement, it was the most common macropod in Australia (a group that includes kangaroos, wallabies, and other Australian mammals). Competition and predation by introduced rabbits, cats, and foxes, as well as habitat loss, pressured the population. It was declared a pest in the 1900s and was wiped out by the 1960s; however, the loss of the boodie and other ground-foraging animals has degraded soil quality. Populations persisted on three west coast islands (Bernier, Dorre, and Barrow), and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aepyprymnus
The rufous rat-kangaroo or rufous bettong (''Aepyprymnus rufescens'') is a small, jumping, rat-like mammal native to eastern Australia. It is the only species in the genus ''Aepyprymnus''. The largest member of the rat-kangaroo family (Potoroidae), it is about the size of a rabbit. The rufous rat-kangaroo is active at night when it digs for plant roots and fungi, and like other marsupials it carries its young in a pouch. Though its range is reduced, the population is healthy and stable. Taxonomy The rufous rat-kangaroo is the only member of its genus, and is the largest of all the potoroids. It is generally grey with a hint of reddish brown and its scientific name means "reddish high-rump". It was once thought of as a solitary, nocturnal animal, but recent observation indicates that the rufous rat-kangaroo may form loose, polygynous associations. It feeds mostly on tubers and fungi, but also on leaves and other vegetation. Description A species of the family Potoroidae (rat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Potoroinae
Potoroidae is a family of marsupials, small Australian animals known as bettongs, potoroos, and rat-kangaroos. All are rabbit-sized, brown, jumping marsupials and resemble a large rodent or a very small wallaby. Taxonomy The potoroids are smaller relatives of the kangaroos and wallabies, and may be ancestral to that group. In particular, the teeth show a simpler pattern than in the kangaroo family, with longer upper incisors, larger canines, and four cusps on the molars. However, both groups possess a wide diastema between the incisors and the cheek teeth, and the potoroids have a similar dental formula to their larger relatives: In most respects, however, the potoroids are similar to small wallabies. Their hind feet are elongated, and they move by hopping, although the adaptations are not as extreme as they are in true wallabies, and, like rabbits, they often use their fore limbs to move about at slower speeds. The potoroids are, like nearly all diprotodonts, herbivorous. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Palaeopotoroinae
''Palaeopotorous priscus'' is a fossil species of a diprotodont marsupial, known from specimens obtained in central Australia. The animal was similar to the modern species of the family Potoroidae, the potoroos and bettongs. Taxonomy The only known species of its genus, ''Palaeopotorous'', which has been allied to the subfamily Potoroinae or as the type of a subfamily, Palaeopotoroinae, in the potoroid family. Description The dental evidence of the species indicates it was a similar size to a small to medium 'rat-kangaroos' that were common into the twentieth century. Since its first discovery, the species has been suspected of representing an early lineage of the macropods. The finds have been placed to the late Oligocene The Chattian is, in the geologic timescale, the younger of two ages or upper of two stages of the Oligocene Epoch/ Series. It spans the time between . The Chattian is preceded by the Rupelian and is followed by the Aquitanian (the lowest stage ... pe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
