---
title: "Eastern Bettong"
description: "Bettongia gaimardi — Mamíferos. 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."
canonical: https://animalchecklist.com/pt/animal/eastern-bettong
last_updated: 2026-09-20
---

# Eastern Bettong

> Bettongia gaimardi — Mamíferos. 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.

- Scientific name: *Bettongia gaimardi*
- Category: `mammals` (Mamíferos)
- Habitats: `forest` (Floresta)
- iNaturalist observations: 361
- Wikidata: [Q209652](https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q209652)
- iNaturalist taxon: [42996](https://www.inaturalist.org/taxa/42996)

## Names

- en: Eastern Bettong
- de: Tasmanien-Bürstenrattenkänguru
- es: Canguro-rata De Tasmania
- fr: Kangourou-rat De Gaimard
- nl: Tasmaanse borstelstaartkangoeroerat

## Countries with the most observations

AU (318)

## Summary

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.
The animal is called balbo…

Text: Wikipedia (en), CC BY-SA 4.0 — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eastern_bettong

## Photo

![Eastern Bettong](https://animalchecklist.com/img/animals/eastern-bettong/medium.jpg)

Photo: george_vaughan · CC0 · inaturalist — https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/182825951

## Machine access

`GET https://animalchecklist.com/api/v1/animals/eastern-bettong?lang=pt` — see [openapi.json](https://animalchecklist.com/openapi.json).