I have been sent a lovely photo by a Russian woman who wants to marry me. It is of a Burrowing Bettong (also known as a Boodie – but if you get one, don’t shake it! LOL Boodie joke!!).
A juvenile Burrowing Bettong, a cloth, some fingers, part of an arm and the sky.
That first bit is not entirely true. This photo was sent to me in an email with a couple of links and NOTHING ELSE! I thought it was Marsupial Spam! A new cunning and extremely clever kind of spam filled with pictures of endangered, furry, Australian animals! Switch off your junk mail filters Australia, here comes 100s of emails every day jam packed with nude photos of the Eastern Barred Bandicoot (Perameles gunnii) and the Numbat (Myrmecobius fasciatus) and the Mt Lofty Ranges Southern Emu-Wren (Stipiturus malachurus) selling viagra and invitations to contact young women who live behind what was once the Iron Curtain. Bring it on I say! Here are my credit card details, send me something to increase the multiple bed pleasure of many womens and a Greater Stick-Nest Rat (Leporillus conditor). But no Lindsay Lohan videos thanks, we have to draw the line somewhere.
Anyway. It wasn’t marsupial spam it was an email from Rosslyn who is from Canberra and thought I might like to blog about the Burrowing Bettong. And I do. So I have. Someone has to!
The hands in the photo belong to Dr Jeff Short (here is a photo of him in action – he is the larger one and looks like he is deciding whether or not the Bettong is edible)
Dr Jeff Short holding a young Boodie. Jeff has played a primary role in the scientific effort which has brought Boodies back to mainland Australia. Jeff rocks!
Previous distribution of Boodie before, well, you know, before.
On a related matter I am still waiting for the photos Rosslyn mentioned that were taken by one of the quoll researchers in Canberra, a Dr Andrew Claridge. Dr Claridge has been experimenting with infra-red cameras in Kosciusko National Park and has photos of quolls standing on tip-toes to sniff the cameras. OH MY GOD! Infra red Quoll close ups! Hurry up Rosslyn. I will post them when they turn up.
Dr Claridge, who must be like some kind of superhuman marsupial genius has also figured out that Bandicoots like truffle oil and will allow themselves to be photographed while sniffing it. (See below)
Not a truffle pig.
And Dingos too! But we all knew that.
Handsome dog thinks about truffle oil
Anyway, to learn more about the Boodie you can go here
http://www.rootourism.com/fsheet3.htm
and here
http://www.wildliferesearchmanagement.com.au/bettong.htm
To learn more about Truffle Oil you can go to some truffle oil website or just Google it. Do I have to do everything for you people?
2 Comments
Gorgeous critters. I’m fortunate enough to have read one of Dr Claridge’s papers on his infra-red quolls – and they too are marvelous creatures, totally underestimated by the vast majority of Australians.
However, do tell me if you end up catching an *Eastern* quoll on camera on mainland Australia, won’t you? They’re not supposed to be there … much.
Chris.
http://www.wherelightmeetsdark.com
http://www.wherelightmeetsdark.com/index.php?module=wiki&page=MainlandEasternQuollProject
No, Firstdog. Dingo and Quoll were devising a recipe involving Andrew Claridge (pan fried with leeks and truffle oil) so they could suggest Bettong might replicate the delicacy with Jeff Short.
Cunning things, these marsupials. Makes you wonder why they are endangered – their researchers certainly are.
Bettong for Iron Chef!!!