The Rufous bettong is a small nocturnal marsupial species of the family Potoroidae found in Australia. It is found in coastal and subcoastal regions in New South Wales and Queensland and was formerly common in the Murray River Valley of New South Wales and Victoria.
It is the only member of its genus and is the largest of all the potoroids. It is generally grey with a hint of reddish-brown – with its scientific name meaning “reddish high-rump”.
They normally move quite slowly by placing the forelegs on the ground and bringing the hind legs forward together, but can also hop like a kangaroo. When alarmed they stamp their hind feet on the ground. They are known to use their tails to carry nesting material and are a secretive nocturnal animal, rarely seen in the wild.
Bettongs, like bandicoots, are important ecological engineers. Their digging plays an important role in the decomposition of leaf litter, thereby reducing fuel loads and fire risk in dry grassy forests and woodlands, and in dispersing fungal spores and plant seeds. Rufous bettongs, for example, can travel 1.5km from their nest to feed – a large distance for a small mammal – spreading spores and seeds via their scats, snouts and paws as they move about the landscape.