This Tiny But Mighty Woylie Shot Up Like a Rocket and is Going, Going … GONE!

Woylies are small marsupials native to Australia. These rabbit-sized rat kangaroos are critically endangered and have disappeared from much of their historical range in mainland Australia. Organizations like the Australian Wildlife Conservancy have been working to reintroduce woylies to areas where they have been locally extinct. In this YouTube video shared by the organization, a little woylie being released into the wild launches itself out of the bag and hops like the wind. Of course, any creature being let out of a bag is going to make a break for it. However, do woylies normally do this in the wild? If so, why?

What Exactly Is a Woylie?

“Woylie” is the common name for the kangaroo-like brush-tailed bettong, Bettongia penicillata. These miniature marsupials historically prefer forests and desert-like grasslands. However, because they face extinction without human intervention, their range has mostly been reduced to the forests, woodlands, and scrublands of various wildlife sanctuaries in the southwest part of Australia. Their primary threats are habitat fragmentation and introduced predators such as cats and foxes.

From their heads to the base of their tails, woylies only grow to around 12-15 inches long. They have long, prehensile tails with the characteristic black brush at the tips. Their tails can reach up to 14 inches long and are used like another limb. Adult woylies weigh from 2.5-3.5 pounds, males being slightly larger. Woylies have long, dense fur of gray to grayish brown on its upper parts with lighter fur underneath. They have round ears, bare noses, and large eyes, which help these nocturnal creatures see in the dark.

Like other marsupials, the young are born underdeveloped and climb into their mother’s pouch to continue developing. The woylie joey will remain in the pouch drinking milk for about 90 to 98 days. When the joey leaves the pouch, it will continue to suckle and share its mother’s nest until another joey leaves the pouch and takes its place. The average lifespan in the wild is around 4-6 years, but in captivity they can live into their teens.

The Benefits of Bipedality

Woylies are bipedal, with long hind feet that measure even longer than their heads. Like kangaroos, they hop with their strong back legs and can deliver a powerful kick. Their long tails help them keep their balance while in motion. The woylie is said to be able to reach more than twice the speed normally estimated for a mammal of the same size. Their clawed front feet, typically used for digging, are kept close to their chests.

The images above show how woylies use their muscular legs to launch into the air. As noted above, most creatures are going to leap away when freed from confinement. However, ballistic escape jumps are common behavior for woylies and other bipedally hopping mammals when threatened. Researchers also note that when startled, woylies are known to explosively bolt from their nests. Scientists theorize that bipedality actually enables such rapid jumps, and bipedal hopping makes it more difficult for predators to calculate their trajectory. Woylies have other defenses such as long, sharp nails and sharp teeth. Yet, scientists are concerned that woylies living in wildlife havens are losing their reactivity to threats.

Scientists also believe that these populations are developing adaptations that could harm their ability to escape predators when reintroduced into the wild. For example, in sanctuary populations, researchers found that foot length in relation to head length had decreased. In a marsupial, larger legs and feet allow for greater speed, giving the animal a better chance of outrunning a predator. So, changes in such important traits could cause unfortunate outcomes. Fortunately, awareness can aid ecologists in monitoring these populations to ensure the woylie is a conservation success story.