other names

Rufous Rat-Kangaroo

DESCRIPTION

Head and body length is 375 to 390mm, with an average of 385mm. Tail length is 338 to 387mm, with an average of around 360mm. Weight is up to 3kg for males and 3.5kg for females. Long reddish-brown fur with darker flecks. Rhinarium is bare, face and muzzle are hairy. Around the eyes is thinly furred with skin showing through.

The Rufous Bettong can be found from Cooktown in Queensland through to north-eastern New South Wales, including the Border Rivers region. Habitats varies from coastal eucalypt forests through to tall, wet sclerophyll forests and low, dry open woodland areas. Home ranges are large, with males covering 75 to 110 hectares and females 45 to 60 hectares. Individuals may travel between 2 and 4.5 kilometres in a night. The Rufous Bettong emerges from a nest, built of fibrous vegetation in a shallow excavation, about forty minutes after sunset and spends most of the night browsing for food, which includes herbs, grasses, roots, tubers, leaves, flowers, fungi and seeds. Bones of dead animals are also chewed on. Once thought to be solitary, it is now believed that the Rufous Bettong forms loose, polygamous associations, with males associating with 1 or 2 females in overlapping home ranges. Breeding can occur at any time of the year. Females reach sexual maturity at about 11 months of age and there after enter oestrus at three weekly intervals. Males reach sexual maturity at around 12 to 13 months of age. To "court" a female the male stamps a foot and thrashes his tail around, if he attempts to mount a female not in oestrus she will growl loudly, but during oestrus she will permit him to smell her cloaca and pouch before allowing him to begin copulation. Gestation is approximately 22 to 24 days and a single young is born. The female often mates again straight after birth, producing a blastocyst. The Rufous Bettong joey detaches from the teat at around seven to eight weeks of age and leaves the pouch permanently at about 16 weeks of age. The joey remains at heel for another seven weeks or so. The Rufous Bettong is considered common through out its range, however habitat is being lost due to urban development and farming practices and it is predated by foxes and feral cats.