woylie

This is one of Western Australia's success stories. The number of Woylie's had continued to drop in Western Australia. The other subspecies Bettongia penicillata penicillata is believed to be extinct in South-eastern Australia.

Now, due to captive breeding, the Woylie has been translocated into other nature reserves in Western Australia such as the privately owned Australian Wildlife Conservancy Sanctuaries, and other Reserves and National Parks such as Julimar National Park north-east of Perth, Boyagin Rock Nature Reserve near Tutanning Nature Reserve, where I have seen several at night around the picnic area, Lake Magenta, Kalbarri National Park in the Mid-west region and Peron Peninsular in the Gascoyne region and to some other Jarrah forests in the north and south of Western Australia. I have no information as to the success of these translocations. (There are a lot of people involved in these breeding programs it is worth doing a search on this subject alone).

There are different subspecies. The Bettongia penicillata ogilbyi is in the southwest of Western Australia.

The Bettongia penicillata ogilbyi Woylie is now at a lower risk of extinction.

This Woylie was photographed at Perup Ecology Centre in Perup near Manjimup. This was in a eucalypt forest.

Update; Now in 2005 according to "Conservation News" by the Conservation and Land Management WA. The Woylie has been removed from the threatened species list.

Photographed at Dryandra woodlands

Another place the Woylie is still found in the south-west wheatbelt is Dryandra woodlands and Tutanning Nature Reserve which are wandoo woodlands different to the Perup Forest of Jarrah.

Go to our WILDLIFE HOTSPOT pages to see more about Tutanning Nature Reserve and Dryandra woodlands

The Woylie is approx 31cm-38 cm long in the body, its tail is approx 29cm-35cm and it an adult weighs 1-1.6 kg.

Found in the south-west of Western Australia in places like Perup where this photograph was taken, Dryandra and Tutanning in the wheatbelt where I have seen woylie's at both these places, they have also been re-introduced at various places.

Woylie/Brush-tailed Bettong scats

Photographed at the Western Australian Museum

What does it eat?

The Woylie's main food is under ground fungi and insect larvae. It may also eat bulbs, seeds, tubers, insects and resin at different times of the year. As you can see in the photo above it can hold the food in its front paws.

No fungi is good food for mammals but according to the text "Australia's Vanishing Mammals Endangered and Extinct Native Species" by Dr Tim Flannery "These underground fungi can only be digested indirectly. Bacteria in the large forestomach consume the fungi and it is these bacteria and their by-products which contain the more balanced nutrients that are digested in the rest of the stomach and small intestine".

Woylie's make a nest by weaving together grass and bark beneath the shelter of a bush. Their tails are slightly prehensile which means they can use it to hold things like their nesting material. I have seen them do this at Perth Zoo. They curl their tails under in a coil. They have several nests they use regularly.

Here at Whiteman Park we saw Woylies sleeping in a log.

Tracks

See the long feet, these long feet are soft on the ground spreading the impact of the hopping over a longer area than hoofed animals such goats.

The woylie like other macropods can leave walking tracks with the two front feet in the middle of a track with the two longer back feet on the outside and the tail dragging through the middle. But often they bound quickly on their back feet and their front feet are off the ground.

The size of a track can tell us how big the animal was but sometimes this is deceiving as an animal as small as the woylie can leave quite a large track which could be mistaken for a joey's track of another larger macropod. But there are differences in the pads on the feet which make different tracks but this gets a little complicated.

Upper jaw

The upper jaw has a total of 6 incisors, 2 canines, 2 premolars and 8 molars.

The lower jaw has a total of 2 incisors, no canines, 2 premolars and 8 molars

A close-up of the upper jaw teeth. You can see that it has a serrated premolar.

We can tell by the teeth that this Woylie died before its 4th molar had fully developed.

Permission is granted to reproduce this image for non commercial websites.

The Woylie/Brush-tailed Bettong pouch

Photographed at the Western Australian Museum
The woylie is a marsupial. All animals in the macropod group have joey's. Woylie's have one offspring at a time and can breed throughout the year or hold an embryo from developing if the conditions are bad, such as drought.

Signs that there may be woylie's living in the area are diggings in the ground, I have only seen in sandy areas, where the woylie or bettong finds its main food source. The hole is shaped like a cone, but it is tricky to tell the difference between bandicoots, and woylie's. So this is where the other clues like the tracks or scats may help identify the animal. They are all usually out at night or near sunset.

This Woylie was seen at Dryandra - Barna Mia in the wheatbelt. Here you can pay to walk around and see Woylies, Boodies, Bilbies, Bandicoots and Western Barred Bandicoot at night. >>>>>>>>

Go Here to see our video of this animal.