Day 25- Back to Australia

Day #25 (3/11/2014) Back to Australia

      We had such a lovely week at HQs last week celebrating aardvarks and announcing our spring photo contest, but we were ready to hit the road. We packed up and headed out for a short stay in the land down under! We set today to find one of the many marsupials that live on this island country. Marsupials are so cool with their pouches! We were so excited when we did spot the animal we were looking for… the Rufous Bettong!

       Their range/habitat: Eastern Australia/forest-rainforest

      Their length/weight: 14 ½-20 ½”/5 ½-7 ¾ lbs  Conservation Status: Common

      Their diet: Omnivore: seeds, fungi, flowers and invertebrates

• Rufous bettongs are also called the Rufous rat kangaroo.
• They have reddish brown fur.
• Rufous bettongs are nocturnal.
• Rufous bettongs build cone shaped nests. One animal can have up to 5 of these nests.
• They can grasp things with their tails.
• Rufous bettongs babies leave their mom’s pouch at 16 weeks.

These amazing little marsupials are so cute! They can hope like a kangaroo but look like a rodent! We just loved watching them hop around the forest looking for fungi to eat! Time for bed for us! Tomorrow brings a new adventure- we’ll be looking for a flightless bird in New Zealand!

-Ellie and Edmond