CreatureData

Northern bettong

Bettongia tropica Wakefield, 1967

ENEndangeredmarsupials

The northern bettong (Bettongia tropica) is a species in the family Potoroidae, order Diprotodontia. Recorded adults weigh 1.18 kg to 1.26 kg and live up to 12.9 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Endangered.

Northern bettong (Bettongia tropica)
Photo: Kaitlyn · CC BY 4.0 · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the northern bettong

Weight
1.18 kg – 1.26 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
12.9 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Herbivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
18.8 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Gestation
19.4 dayssrc for Gestation
Young per litter or clutch
1src for Young per litter or clutch
Age at maturity
6.52 monthssrc for Age at maturity
Litters or clutches a year
2.56src for Litters or clutches a year
Active
At night (nocturnal)src for Active
Lifestyle
Terrestrialsrc for Lifestyle
Conservation status
Endangered (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Where does the northern bettong live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The northern bettong is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Why a country list is not a range map

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the northern bettong?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The northern bettong (Bettongia tropica) is a small, endangered, rabbit-sized mammal native to forests in northeast Australia. A member of the rat-kangaroo family (Potoroidae), it moves by hopping and shelters in a concealed nest by day, feeding at night on roots and fungi. It is also a marsupial and carries its young in a pouch. The northern bettong is threatened by habitat loss, and is now restricted to a few small areas.

From the Wikipedia article “Northern bettong” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Northern_bettong&oldid=1373986337), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the northern bettong endangered?

The northern bettong is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List: it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Endangered species. What the categories mean.

How is the northern bettong classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classMammalia
  4. orderDiprotodontia
  5. familyPotoroidae
  6. genusBettongia
  7. SpeciesBettongia tropica Wakefield, 1967
Other names and names in other languages (10)
  • بطونق شماليArabic
  • klokánek severníCzech
  • Nördliches RattenkänguruGerman
  • Nördliches BürstenkänguruGerman
  • Nördliches BürstenrattenkänguruGerman
  • Betong SeptentrionalSpanish
  • キタネズミカンガルーJapanese
  • NordbettongNorwegian Bokmål
  • kanguroszczurnik tropikalnyPolish
  • Betong-SetentrionalPortuguese

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the northern bettong

Other species in the same genus Bettongia.

NT, Near Threatened
Woylie (Bettongia penicillata)

Woylie

Bettongia penicillata

Potoroidae

NT, Near Threatened
Boodie (Bettongia lesueur)

Boodie

Bettongia lesueur

Potoroidae

CompareNorthern bettong vs WoylieNorthern bettong vs Eastern bettongNorthern bettong vs BoodieNorthern bettong vs Nullarbor dwarf bettong

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the northern bettong?

An adult northern bettong weighs 1.18 kg – 1.26 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the northern bettong live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the northern bettong for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the northern bettong endangered?

The northern bettong is listed as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, meaning it faces a very high risk of extinction in the wild.

How long does the northern bettong live?

The northern bettong has a recorded lifespan of 12.9 years.

How long is the northern bettong pregnant?

The recorded gestation period is 19.4 days.

What kind of animal is the northern bettong?

The northern bettong (Bettongia tropica) belongs to the family Potoroidae in the order Diprotodontia.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Northern bettong (Bettongia tropica). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/northern-bettong

MLA

“Northern bettong (Bettongia tropica).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/northern-bettong.

BibTeX
@misc{northern_bettong_2026,
  title = {Northern bettong (Bettongia tropica)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/northern-bettong},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}