A nocturnal visitor to my camp, the Rufous Bettong is a small macropod (“big foot”, = kangaroo or wallaby) of woodlands in north-eastern Australia.
They build a nest among grass as a day-time retreat, and feed by digging for tubers and fungi as well as grazing and eating seeds and some insects.

There are five species of bettong, all endemic to Australia, and all but the Rufous Bettong have fared poorly mainly because their small size and slow reproductive rate renders them prone to predation by the introduced Red Fox.
1. The Rufous Bettong has done well because it occurs mainly in tropical and sub-tropical areas where the Red Fox is rare or absent.
2. The Northern Bettong is a rare inhabitant of tropical moist eucalypt forests, where it is probably threatened by fire regimes, loss of habitat and climate change.
3. The Southern Bettong is extinct on the Australian mainland but remains common in parts of Tasmania where there are no foxes.
4. The Burrowing Bettong is extinct on the mainland but survives on two small semi-desert islands off the coast of Western Australia.
5. The Woylie is almost extinct on the mainland, persisting in a small area near Perth where native plants contain a poison that kills Red Foxes.