Desert Rat-kangaroo

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iDesert Rat-kangaroo
Conservation status
Extinct  (1935)
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Infraclass: Marsupialia Order: Diprotodontia Family: Potoroidae Genus: Caloprymnus Thomas, 1888 Species: C. campestris
Binomial name
Caloprymnus campestris (Gould, 1843)

The Desert Rat-kangaroo (Caloprymnus campestris) is an extinct marsupial that lived in the driest, hottest and most desolate environments in Central Australia. It was the size of a small rabbit. It was graceful, scarcely seeming to touch the ground as it hopped, almost floating, effortlessly, through the air. It showed great endurance and 'paused only to die'. It sheltered in a flimsy nest by day. At night, it emerged to feed. It lived alone and was so independent of water, that it even shunned the succulent plants of the sandhills. It was first recorded by Europeans around 1841 and was not seen again for 90 years. The last sighting was in 1935.

It is said that in the last sighting, it was chased by three humans on horses for twelve miles nonstop, ending with the horses stopping in exhaustion and the Desert Rat-kangaroo escaping.

[edit] References

• Australasian Marsupial & Monotreme Specialist Group (1996). Caloprymnus campestris. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 06 May 2006. Database entry includes a brief justification of why this species is listed as extinct
• Groves, Colin (16 November 2005). Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M. (eds): Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, 58. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.
• Bryson, Bill (May 15, 2001). In a Sunburned Country. Broadway. ISBN 0-7679-0386-2.