OzAnimals.com
Australian Wildlife

  Tasmanian Bettong (Bettongia gaimardi)





Tasmanian Bettong | Bettongia gaimardi photo
female Tasmanian Bettong foraging for food.

Image by unknown - GNU Free Documentation License.    (view image details)







TASMANIAN BETTONG FACTS

Description
The Tasmanian Bettong is brownish grey above with whitish underside.

Other Names
Eastern Bettong, Gaimards Bettong

Size
Head and body length about 32cm. Tail length also about 32cm.

Habitat
dry forest with grass ground cover.

Food
Fungi, seeds, roots. Also eats insects.

Breeding
Makes nest of dry grass in bushes or under log. Gestation takes 21 days. The joey remains in pouch for about 105 days, and is fully weaned within 2 months of leaving pouch.

Range
Tasmania. Used to be found on mainland but now extinct there.

distribution map showing range of Bettongia gaimardi in Australia

Credits:
Map is from Atlas of Living Australia website at https://biocache.ala.org.au licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 License.

Conservation Status
The conservation status in the 2004 IUCN Red List of Threatened Animals is "lower risk/near threatened".

Classification
Class:Mammalia
Order:Diprotodontia
Family:Potoroidae
Genus:Bettongia
Species:gaimardi
Common Name:Tasmanian Bettong

Relatives in same Genus
  Brush-tailed Bettong (B. penicillata)