The Brush-Tailed Bettong (Bettongia penicillata) is a small, rare marsupial mammal. It is also known as the Woylie. 

The Brush-Tailed Bettong has grey-brown fur with a pale-cream underbelly. It has some silvery fur. Its tail is rufous-brown (red-brown) with a blackish tip. 

It grows to about 36 centimetres (14 inches) long, including its tail.

The Brush-Tailed Bettong is endemic to Australia – in very small areas of Western Australia and South Australia. Its population is decreasing. It prefers open forests, woodlands, and shrublands. 

It is nocturnal, most active at night. It digs for fungi. It is a fungivore, but sometimes it eats seeds, tubers, and insects. 

Eagles like to eat the Brush-Tailed Bettong.

It makes a dome-shaped nest of grass, bark, and leaves in a narrow hollow under a bush. 

The female gives birth to one live young. 

It lives on average for 4-6 years.

Photographer: Martina Nicolls

Martina Nicolls: SIMILAR BUT DIFFERENT IN THE ANIMAL KINGDOM