Boodie
Boodie[1] | |
---|---|
Scientific classification | |
Domain: | Eukaryota |
Kingdom: | Animalia |
Phylum: | Chordata |
Class: | Mammalia |
Infraclass: | Marsupialia |
Order: | Diprotodontia |
Family: | Potoroidae |
Genus: | Bettongia |
Species: | B. lesueur
|
Binomial name | |
Bettongia lesueur | |
Subspecies | |
| |
Boodie range (brown — native, pink — reintroduced) |
The boodie (Bettongia lesueur), also known as the burrowing bettong or Lesueur's rat-kangaroo,[4] is a small, furry, rat-like mammal native to Australia. Once common throughout the continent, it is now restricted to a few coastal islands. A member of the rat-kangaroo family (Potoroidae), it lives in burrows and is active at night when it forages for fungi, roots, and other plant matter. It is about the size of a rabbit and, like most marsupials, carries its young in a pouch.
Before European settlement, it was the most common macropod in Australia (a group that includes kangaroos, wallabies, and other Australian mammals). Competition and predation by introduced rabbits, cats, and foxes, as well as habitat loss, pressured the population. It was declared a pest in the 1900s and was wiped out by the 1960s; however, the loss of the boodie and other ground-foraging animals has degraded soil quality. Populations persisted on three west coast islands (Bernier, Dorre, and Barrow), and the boodie has been reintroduced to the mainland since the 2000s.[5]
Taxonomy and name
The boodie belongs to the family
The word "boodie" comes from its name boodi or burdi in Noongar,[7][8] an Aboriginal language spoken in southwestern Australia. The animal was first collected on an 1817 French expedition of the west coast, and was named Bettongia lesueur after Charles Lesueur, an artist and naturalist who accompanied a previous French expedition.
Paleontology
In the late
Morphology
The boodie is a small, rat-like marsupial with short, rounded ears and a lightly haired, thick tail. This animal has a pointed rostrum and beady black eyes, hind limbs longer than the forelimbs, and large hind feet. This bettong 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 used to carry nest material.[11][12] About the size of a wild rabbit, this little marsupial weighs an average of 1.5 kg.[4] Head and body length is an average of 40 cm.[11] Little to no sexual dimorphism seems to exist. However, morphology varies among subspecies and between islands.[13]
In general, a potoroid skull can be separated from a
Reproduction
If conditions are good, the boodie seems to mate throughout the year, probably using a
Ecology
The boodie once lived in a range of dry
After colonisation of Australia, its
At the Arid Recovery Reserve near Roxby Downs in South Australia, the boodie is preyed upon by the western quoll.[14]
Before its extinction on the mainland, the boodie served a very important function in the Australian grassland ecosystem. As it foraged, it mixed organic matter into the soil, spreading fungi and seeds. This mixing also increased water absorption into the soil and reduced the
The contraction of the distribution range in
Behavior and physiological attributes
B. lesueur is very vocal, communicating through grunts, hisses, and squeals.[11] It shelters in burrows, the only macropodiform to do so.[5] 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.[11] Warrens are communal, housing an average of 20-40 bettongs. Bettongs appear to switch warrens from time to time, though each has one or two preferred warrens. During the day in the warrens, they form groups of one male and one or many females; males never share warrens with other males. Some of the female-female groups seem to be mother-daughter associations. However, individuals seem to forage alone, showing none of the day-range group associations.[5][13]
The boodie is
Bettong digestive systems are characterized by a very large sacciform fore stomach, a tubiform fore stomach with limited sacculation, and a small hind stomach. The hind gut has a well-developed, simple cecum. Like many macropodiforms, bettongs have fore gut fermentation. Daily water intake is only about 3% of its body weight. B. lesueur seems to have renal adaptations to conserve water, which is important in its arid and semiarid habitats.[10]
Species decline
Researchers have proposed many possible causes for 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. The theory that rabbits compete with boodies for food has been disputed in a study done in 2002[18] although further investigation is needed. Finally, the Indigenous Australians maintained certain fire regimes, and when these ceased, the habitat probably changed.[4] The species was amongst several marsupials declared pests under the Western Australian Vermin Act 1918, by a regional animal control board at Denmark, Western Australia in 1922.[17] By the 1960s, all the boodies on the mainland were extinct.[6]
Conservation efforts
Once present in all mainland states except Victoria, the burrowing bettong survived as three remnant populations on small offshore islands.
References
- OCLC 62265494.
- .
- ^ "Appendices | CITES". cites.org. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i "The burrowing bettong (Bettongia lesueur)". Heirisson Prong Threatened Species Project. 2005-09-25. Archived from the original on 2007-04-01. Retrieved 2006-12-08.
- ^ doi:10.1071/WR96021.
- ^ a b c d Massicot, P. (2006-06-02). "Burrowing Bettong". Animal Info. Retrieved 2006-12-08.
- ^ Abbott, Ian (2001). "Aboriginal names of mammal species in south-west Western Australia" (PDF). CALMScience. 3 (4): 461.
- ^ Oxford Dictionary. Oxford University Press. http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/boodie Archived 2012-10-19 at the Wayback Machine (12 Sep 2012)
- S2CID 41226126.
- ^ a b c d e Seebeck, J.H. & Rose, R.W. (1989). "Potoroidae" (PDF). In D.W. Walton & B.J. Richardson (eds.). Fauna of Australia. Vol 1B Mammalia. Australian Government Publishing Service. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2005-07-23. Retrieved 2006-12-08.
- ^ a b c d e f Burrowing bettong (boodie) Archived 2007-09-29 at the Wayback Machine. Nature Base Fauna Species Profiles.
- ^ Burrowing bettong (Bettongia lesueur) Archived 2007-05-01 at the Wayback Machine. (2006). ARKive.
- ^ doi:10.1071/WR98039.
- ISSN 1836-7402.
- .
- ^ Sarre, A. (1999). "Slow change on the range" (PDF). Ecos (100): 44.
- ^ ISSN 0067-2238.
- ^ Robley, A. J., Short, J. & Bradley, S. (2002) Do European rabbits (Oryctolagus cuniculus) influence the population ecology of the burrowing bettong (Bettongia lesueur)? Wildlife research, 29, 423-429.
- ISBN 0-19-555037-4
- ISBN 9781877069819
- ^ "Burrowing Bettong's historic homecoming to Central Australia". The National Tribune. 2022-06-01. Retrieved 2022-06-03.
- ^ "Locally-extinct bettongs and bandicoots released". Mirage News. Retrieved 2023-10-03.
- ^ "Boodie (Burrowing Bettong)". Shark Bay. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
- ^ author. "Sturt National Park Review of Environmental Factors for the reintroduction of locally extinct mammals". NSW Environment, Energy and Science. Retrieved 2020-09-03.
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Sources
- Tim Flannery (2007). Chasing Kangaroos: A Continent, a Scientist, and a Search for the World's Most Extraordinary Creature, ISBN 978-0-8021-1852-3