A LIST OF SMALL, BROWN AND BOUNCY AUSTRALIAN ANIMALS

Home to some truly iconic species with some truly iconic ways of getting around, Australia is famous for its scary slitherers, its creepy crawlies, and its bouncers. The most famous among them, of course, is the kangaroo. However, as you’ll soon discover, the kangaroo is just the tip of the bounce-berg.

Meet the Ecosystem Engineers

Often known as ecosystem engineers, Australia is home to many small, brown and bouncy creatures tasked with an essential job: regenerating Australian nature.

Fortunately, these bouncy engineers love to dig. Through their love of digging, they improve soil quality by turning over huge amounts of dirt and leaf litter, which loosens the soil, improves water penetration and makes the ground more fertile. Plus, they scatter and bury native seeds, which helps native vegetation grow.

These animals and the work they do are vital and unless we act soon, we’re in danger of losing these small, brown, bouncy creatures.

Let’s meet a few of these humble heroes:

Small, Brown and Bouncy

The long-nosed potoroo

EPBC Act conservation status: Vulnerable

Long-nosed potoroos, or badaru, are one of the smallest and oldest members of the kangaroo family.

Predominantly nocturnal, potoroos emerge at night to dig for fungi, roots, tubers, insects and other soft-bodied animals, including funnel web spiders. Despite being found all along the southeast coast of Australia, from Queensland to eastern Victoria and Tasmania and even on some of the Bass Strait Islands, the long-nosed potoroo is currently listed as Vulnerable.

The brush-tailed bettong

EPBC Act conservation status: Endangered

Also known as woylies, brush-tailed bettongs communicate using their urine. Their prehensile tail acts as a fifth limb, and as juveniles, this little mammal is small enough to fit in the palm of your hand! Just make sure if they’re in the palm of your hand, they don’t suddenly start a conversation.

While they love truffles, their diet primarily consists of fungi and sandalwood seeds, and, as such, brush-tailed bettongs are constantly spreading seeds and fungus spores throughout the environment every time they dig or poo.

The Marna Banggara Project, a joint initiative between WWF-Australia and several other conservation groups, is working to restore locally extinct species of brush-tailed bettongs to Yorke Peninsula in South Australia.

The eastern bettong

EPBC Act conservation status: Extinct on the mainland

Eastern bettongs, or balbo, have been extinct on the mainland of Australia for over a century. They do, however, continue to survive in Tasmania. They eat truffles and plant roots and are known for travelling great distances to find food—in some cases, up to 1.5km from their nest.

With reintroductions to Yiraaldiya National Park in Sydney currently underway, your support will help make it possible to have more eastern bettongs on mainland Australia.

The southern brown bandicoot

EPBC Act conservation status: Endangered

Southern brown bandicoots are Endangered marsupials known for their short gestation period. The female of the species is only pregnant for 11 days before giving birth.

With a backward-facing pouch to ensure they’re not throwing dirt into their newborn’s face when they’re digging, these small, brown and bouncy bandicoots eat insects, worms and spiders.

The parma wallaby

EPBC Act conservation status: Vulnerable

Recently added to the list of threatened Australian species, parma wallabies are the smallest wallabies in the world at only one-tenth the size of a red kangaroo.

They are so reclusive and shy that, until the mid-sixties, they were believed extinct because it had been so long since someone had seen one in the wild. Then, in 1965, a population was discovered in New Zealand. The very surprised Kiwis sent some back to Australia in the hopes they would be rewilded. Two years later, in 1967, another population was discovered in Gosford, north of Sydney.

Parma wallabies eat grass and herbs and are vital to our ecosystem.

The quokka

EPBC Act conservation status: Vulnerable

The small brown and bouncy quokka is perhaps best known for its love of selfies. It has a winning smile and radiates joie de vivre.

An early Dutch explorer described them 'as a kind of rat as big as a common cat' and named Rottnest Island after them: Rat Nest Island.

They are adept at climbing trees and prefer recently burned areas.

The greater bilby

EPBC Act conservation status: Vulnerable

While perhaps best known for delivering chocolates at Easter, greater bilbies are excellent diggers, constructing and maintaining complex burrows, some of which can be up to three metres long and two metres deep.

When bilbies aren’t living in their burrows, other animals, including insects, reptiles, birds and small mammals, use them to shelter from predators and the high summer temperatures.

With a declining population, there are growing concerns that we might one day lose the bilby, which would be a massive blow to Australia’s ecosystem and all the animals who love to squat in their empty underground houses.

If we don’t act now, four of them might bounce away… for good

Each of these animals plays an essential role in maintaining the health and vitality of the Australian landscape, and without them, Australia could be facing dire consequences.

Bettongs, bandicoots and potoroos are currently staring down extinction, with some already classified as ‘locally extinct’ in the regions they once thrived in. Habitat loss and introduced predators have decimated whole populations of these rare and vital native animals.

We need to act quickly or risk losing them and the good they do for the environment and other animals forever.

Donate today to help these small, brown, bouncy creatures bounce back

Bettongs, bandicoots and potoroos need your help to survive. Your generous donation can help these humble heroes and keep them from going extinct.

With innovative strategies and your support, we can give these small, brown, bouncy legends their best chance of bouncing back. Help bring back the bounce today.

What more can you do?

Sign our petition urging your local member of parliament to support stronger nature laws and adequate funding to help bring threatened Australian animals back from the brink of extinction.

Want to know if there’s a small brown and bouncy Australian animal living in your local area? Use WWF-Australia’s My Backyard Tool to learn more about them and discover how you can help better protect them.