The unknown marsupials. This is a bettong. (Photo by Noodlesnacks)
The potoroids are a sort of cousin group to the macropods. Essentially, they are all the marsupials you never hear about, such as the bettongs, the potoroos, and the rat-kangaroos. One article will suffice to cover them all.
Potoroids are small, about the size of a rabbit. Their feet aren’t as relatively large as a macropod’s, but they are still suited to hopping and know how to get around. It’s possible that they are the sort of animals that macropods evolved from, but we don’t really know for certain.
While potoroids are plant-eaters just like macropods, they are also known for their love of tasty fungi. Some potoroids eat practically nothing but the fruiting bodies and spores of various species of fungus. This means that they mostly live in moist habitats with lots of thick bush where fungus likes to grow; coincidentally, this sort of habitat also helps protect them from invasive cats and foxes, by giving them lots of hiding places. Many potoroids live in much-reduced areas today compared to the past.
Yet some potoroids, such as the boodie, live in drier areas and burrow underground to keep from drying up during the day. The critically endangered woylie also does well in dry places, and is known for being able to carry small items with its tail while it hops. The woylie eats fungus that grows underground, digging it out with its claws. Both of these aforementioned animals are a type of bettong.
The potoroos are similar, but while the bettongs are shaped like very tiny kangaroos, the potoroos are shaped more like rabbits or big rats. They haven’t done as well as the bettongs, and all of them are threatened or endangered. One species, Gilbert’s potoroo, is the most endangered animal in all of Australia, and there are only about 30 of them known to survive in the wild. This makes it one of the rarest mammals anywhere in the world. In fact, it is so rare that scientists considered it extinct for more than a hundred years until it was re-discovered in 1994.
Also in the potoroid group are two types of rat-kangaroo. The rufous rat-kangaroo is more closely related to the others, and is the biggest potoroid, though that’s not saying much.
More interesting is the musky rat-kangaroo, which some scientists place in its own family. It’s the smallest of the group, less than a foot long. It hops more like a rabbit than a kangaroo, but in some ways it’s a conglomeration of many other Diprotodontia species — it can climb trees like a possum, it can carry more than one joey in its pouch, and it can hop. So what kind of creature of weaponized cuteness do you get when you combine all the traits of other cute marsupials like superheroes combining powers?
“… oh hi there.” (Photo by PanBK)
Apparently you get something that looks like an ugly hopping rat. Go figure.
The Book of Beasts 