We have one male and one female potoroo, named Dumble and Delilah. They share their enclosure with Bruce the Echidna. This is the UK’s only mixed species exhibit of its kind.
You can visit our potoroos in the newly re-opened Small Mammal House. Due to the shy nature of these animals, we are going to be limiting access to 2:30-5:30pm through the summer, to allow them to acclimatize to the noise.
Native to Tasmania and the south-eastern Australian coast, potoroos live in a variety of habitats including coastal woodlands and rainforests. They tend to be found in areas with thick ground or vegetation, which they use for shelter.
These omnivorous mammals primarily eat fungi, fruit, seeds as well as arthropods such as centipedes.
Interesting facts!
- The length of the long-nosed potoroo’s nose depends on their locality. Usually the more south an individual lives, the longer the nose is.
- A potoroo’s tail is semi-prehensile, which means that they can carry lightweight objects with it -female potoroos will do this with nesting material.
- A potoroo is born blind, naked and is the same size as a 5 pence piece – as soon as the baby is born it will crawl into its mothers pouch, living for several months.
Conservation
Classified as Near Threatened, the population of long-nosed potoroos is thought to be around 75,000 mature individuals. However their population is continuing to decrease due to habitat loss, logging and bushfires.