Brush-tailed Bettong, Bettongia penicillata

Once covering mainland Australia south of the tropics, the Brush-tailed Bettong's range contracted to a small area of southwestern Australia. Last South Australian record: 1910 on the Fleurieu Peninsula.

The Brush-tailed Bettong has been re-established in South Australia on several islands that are free of foxes and cats. It forages at night, digging with its long fore-foot claws for the fruiting bodies of underground fungi and supplementing these with tubers, seeds, berries and insects. It sleeps by day in a globular nest of intertwined grass, half-buried under a bush or tussock. Brush-tailed Bettong populations in Western Australia are expanding where foxes have been reduced to low numbers.