#woylie

The Australian Wildlife Conservancy last month released 147 brush-tailed bettongs on to its sanctuary at Mount Gibson, Perth. Eight threatened native mammal species, including bilbies, numbats, quolls and phascogales, all once locally extinct, have successfully been reintroduced over the past decade since the conservancy bought the 130,000-hectare (321,200-acre) former sheep property in 2000 - Photograph: Jane Palmer/Australian Wildlife Conservancy

La Vie des Animaux Illustrée. Written by Alfred Brehm. Illustration by Robert Kretschmer. 1869 French edition.

Woylie (Bettongia penicillata)

(Photo from World Wildlife Fund)

Conservation Status- Critically Endangered

Habitat- Australia

Size (Weight/Length)- 1.5 kg; 36 cm

Diet- Fungus; Seeds; Tubers

Cool Facts- Woylies are a species of marsupial endemic to Australia. They are generally nocturnal and spend the majority of the day in a burrow. When making its nest, a woylie will carry a bundle of grasses and bark in its tail to transport it to its nest. Several woylies often share burrows and generally lack aggressive behavior outside the six month mating season. Despite having a large population, beginning in the 1930s their population plummeted due to invasive predators and cattle grazing. Currently, the woylie live in only 2 protected preserves, created with fences that keep out foxes and feral cats. In 2021, 40 woylies were transported to the Yorke Peninsula with the goal of it being a safe haven for the woylie, along with several other endangered Australian marsupials.