Eastern bettong

Eastern bettong[1]
Conservation status
Near Threatened  (IUCN 3.1)[2]
CITES Appendix I (CITES)[3]
Scientific classification
Domain:	Eukaryota
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Marsupialia
Order:	Diprotodontia
Family:	Potoroidae
Genus:	Bettongia
Species:	B. gaimardi
Binomial name
Bettongia gaimardi (Desmarest, 1822)
Subspecies
Bettongia gaimardi cuniculus †Bettongia gaimardi gaimardi
Present distribution of Bettongia gaimardi

The eastern bettong (Bettongia gaimardi), also known as the southern or Tasmanian bettong, is a small, hopping, rat-like mammal native to grassy forests of southeastern Australia and Tasmania. A member of the rat-kangaroo family (Potoroidae), it is active at night and feeds on fungi and plant roots. Like most marsupials, it carries its young in a pouch. The eastern bettong is under pressure by introduced predators and habitat loss. The subspecies on mainland Australia (B. g. gaimardi) is extinct, but populations of the Tasmanian subspecies (B. g. cuniculus) have been reintroduced there.^[1][4]

The animal is called balbo by the Ngunnawal, an Aboriginal people who used to keep them as pets.^{[dubious – discuss]}