Woylie

Woylie
Conservation status
Critically Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[1]
CITES Appendix I (CITES)[2]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Marsupialia
Order:	Diprotodontia
Family:	Potoroidae
Genus:	Bettongia
Species:	B. penicillata
Binomial name
Bettongia penicillata J. E. Gray, 1837[3]
Subspecies
B. penicillata ogilbyi †B. penicillata penicillata
Historic woylie range in yellow, current range in red

The woylie or brush-tailed bettong (Bettongia penicillata) is a small, critically endangered mammal native to forests and shrubland of Australia. A member of the rat-kangaroo family (Potoroidae), it moves by hopping and is active at night, digging for fungi to eat. It is also a marsupial and carries its young in a pouch. Once widespread, the woylie mostly died out from habitat loss and introduced predators such as foxes. It is currently restricted to two small areas in Western Australia. There were two subspecies: B. p. ogilbyi in the west, and the now-extinct B. p. penicillata in the southeast.