May 15, 1997 Pg 48, Country Life
Our Bettongs have taken a belting from man’s intrusion
The Burrowing Bettong, scientifically known as the Bettongia lesueur, was once found across many parts of the western, central and southern parts of Australia but is now only found on four little islands off the Western Australian coast.
It was last seen in South Australia in the Musgrave Ranges in the 1950’s.
It lived in dry areas and dug burrows with lots of entrances and connecting tunnels, living in groups.
The Burrowing Bettong is nocturnal and finds food by digging and smelling.
When it lived on the mainland it ate tubers, bulbs, seeds, fungi, nuts and greenery on some plants.
On the islands it ate native figs, seeds, roots, termites and fungi.
The Burrowing Bettong is quite a noisy animal and grunts, hisses and squeals.
It is a yellow-grey with light grey fur on the underside, with small, short ears and a fat tail.
Many Burrowing Bettongs were poisoned by rabbit baits laid to kill rabbits, and foxes were also a predator.
The Brushtailed Bettong belongs to the potoroo family and is scientifically known as Bettongia penicillata.
It was extinct in South Australia, but was later reintroduced and is now found at Venus Bay, Venus Bay Island, Wedge Island, St Peter Island Conservation Park and Yookamurra Sanctuary.
The Brushtailed Bettong is about 30-38cm long with a tail about 29-36cm long which it uses to carry grass for their nests.
It has clawed front feet which it uses to dig for food and make nests and is nocturnal, resting during the day.
Both male and female look similar with a brown-grey fur on top and a lighter-coloured fur on the underside.
The top of its tail is bushy and black/brown and this is where it gets its name.
The Brushtailed Bettong makes a nest in shallow holes in the ground, under bushes or other shelters, and line it with shredded bark and grass which is carried in the tail to the nest.
Before it was reintroduced to SA, the Brushtailed Bettong was last sighted on the Fleurieu Peninsula of SA in 1910.
The Desert Rat-kangaroo is now completely extinct in the wild, but it once lived in the sandridge and gibberplain areas in south-western Queensland and north-eastern South Australia.
The flimsy grass nests which they lived in individually did little to protect them from these elements.
It was first discovered in the 1840’s then was not seen for 90 years, but was officially recorded in 1931. The population declined again and is now extinct in the wild.
It was last recorded in SA in 1935 at Ooroowilanie, east of Lake Eyre and between the Rivers Cooper and Warburton.
Scientifically known as the Caloprymnus campestris, common names for the Desert Rat-kangaroo include the Plains Rat-kangaroo, Bluff-nosed Rat-kangaroo or olacunta.
The Long-nosed Potoroo, or Potorous tridactylus as it is scientifically known, is no longer found in South Australia but it still lives in areas where there is high rainfall such as Tasmania and near the mainland coast of south-eastern Australia.
There have been no official sightings of this animal in SA in this century.
The Long-nosed Potoroo lives in areas that have thick ground cover and where the soil is light and sandy.
It eats mainly roots, tubers, fungi, insects and insect larvae, and other soft-bodied animals found in the soil.
It is a nocturnal animal and does not very often go out where there is no cover.
www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/orig/extinctions/stockjnl.htm
