Burrowing bettong, Lesueur's rat-kangaroo
The boodie (Bettongia lesueur) is a small, furry, rat-like mammal native to Australia. It is a member of the rat-kangaroo family (Potoroidae). The boodie lives in burrows and, like most marsupials, carries its young in a pouch.
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NocturnalNocturnality is an animal behavior characterized by being active during the night and sleeping during the day. The common adjective is "nocturnal",...
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FolivoreIn zoology, a folivore is a herbivore that specializes in eating leaves. Mature leaves contain a high proportion of hard-to-digest cellulose, less ...
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FrugivoreA frugivore is an animal that thrives mostly on raw fruits or succulent fruit-like produce of plants such as roots, shoots, nuts, and seeds. Approx...
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GranivoreSeed predation, often referred to as granivory, is a type of plant-animal interaction in which granivores (seed predators) feed on the seeds of pla...
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HerbivoreA herbivore is an animal anatomically and physiologically adapted to eating plant material, for example, foliage, for the main component of its die...
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FossorialA fossorial animal is one adapted to digging which lives primarily but not solely, underground. Some examples are badgers, naked mole-rats, clams, ...
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TerrestrialTerrestrial animals are animals that live predominantly or entirely on land (e.g., cats, ants, snails), as compared with aquatic animals, which liv...
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ViviparousAmong animals, viviparity is the development of the embryo inside the body of the parent. The term 'viviparity' and its adjective form 'viviparous'...
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AltricialAltricial animals are those species whose newly hatched or born young are relatively immobile. They lack hair or down, are not able to obtain food ...
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BurrowingA burrow is a hole or tunnel excavated into the ground by an animal to create a space suitable for habitation, temporary refuge, or as a byproduct ...
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PolygynyPolygyny is a mating system in which one male lives and mates with multiple females but each female only mates with a single male.
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Not a migrantAnimals that do not make seasonal movements and stay in their native home ranges all year round are called not migrants or residents.
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starts withThe boodie is a small, rat-like marsupial with short, rounded ears and a lightly-haired, thick tail. It has a pointed rostrum and beady black eyes, hind limbs longer than the forelimbs, and large hind feet. The boodie is yellow-gray above and light gray below. Its short, dense fur feels soft and woolly. The animal bears a faint hip stripe and a distinctive white tail tip. This tail is weakly prehensile and is usually used to carry nest material.
Boodies were once common throughout Australia but are now restricted to a few coastal islands. Within these islands, they prefer to live in open Triodia (spinifex) and dune habitats. They require areas with shrubs, grasses, and herbs where they can burrow and avoid places with rocky substrate.
Boodies are highly social animals. They live in burrows which they dig under the ground. Burrows vary from simple tunnels to complex networks with multiple entrances and deep, interconnecting tunnels. These elaborate burrows, or warrens, have been seen having from four to 94 entrances. Burrows are communal, housing an average of 20-40 boodies. During the day in the burrows, they form groups of one male and one or many females; males never share burrows with other males. When above the ground boodies usually forage alone and don't associate with each other. Boodies forage during the nighttime hours. Nighttime movement is usually fairly limited, averaging less than 200 m (0.12 miles) but they may sometimes travel 2.2 km (1.4 miles) searching for food. Boodies may even climb into low shrubs to find food. They are very vocal and communicate with each other through grunts, hisses, and squeals.
Boodies are omnivores and eat a variety of foods. Their diet includes seeds, fruits, flowers, tubers, roots, succulent leaves, grasses, fungi, termites, and marine refuse. They will also raid vegetable gardens.
Boodies are thought to be polygynous meaning that males mate with more than one female during the breeding season. Males do not seem to have dominance hierarchies; rather, they defend females against other males. Boodies can breed throughout the year. Gestation lasts 21 days, with only one joey per litter. Like other marsupial newborns, the young is born altricial and takes about 4 months until weaning. After the joey leaves the pouch, it takes 6 to 7 months to become reproductively mature. In captivity, females can bear 3 young per year.
Many possible causes are thought to have influenced the boodie's decline on mainland Australia, which began once Australia was colonized. Nineteenth-century colonists killed boodies, considering them a destructive garden pest. As pastoral leases spread over the grasslands, livestock grazing reduced vegetation cover, shrinking their habitat. Also, introduced species such as foxes, cats, and rabbits took a severe toll on the boodie, especially on islands. Rabbits competed with them for food and shelter, and the foxes and cats became their major predators. Finally, the Indigenous Australians maintained certain fire regimes, and when these ceased, the habitat probably changed. Current populations fluctuate, building up during the years with average or good rainfall and declining during drought years.
According to the IUCN Red List, the total population size of the boodie is around 14,500 mature individuals. Currently, this species is classified as Near Threatened (NT) on the IUCN Red List, but its numbers today are increasing.
Before their extinction on the mainland, boodies played a very important role in the Australian grassland ecosystem. As they foraged, they mixed organic matter into the soil, spreading fungi and seeds. This mixing also increased water absorption into the soil and reduced the combustible material under trees, decreasing the likelihood of fire. These actions helped maintain the balance of trees, shrubs, and grasses. The loss of small, ground-foraging animals after European settlement contributed to widespread soil deterioration. Also, boodies may have helped to thin woody weeds on rangeland by browsing shrubs growing after fires.
Social animals are those animals that interact highly with other animals, usually of their own species (conspecifics), to the point of having a rec...