Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun Any of several rat kangaroos of the genus Potorous of Australia, feeding primarily on plants and fungi.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun One of the small rat-kangaroos of the genus Potorous, the generic name being a Latinization of the native name.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun (Zoöl.) Any small kangaroo belonging to Hypsiprymnus, Bettongia, and allied genera, native of Australia and Tasmania. Called also
kangaroo rat .
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun Any of several
rat kangaroos , of the genus Potorous, fromAustralia andTasmania
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun Australian rat kangaroos
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
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Examples
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The potoroo suffered from predation by cats and foxes that were introduced to the area.
This seal was declared extinct in 1892. So what is it doing alive and well today? Ian Sample 2010
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Another creature, a small marsupial called Gilbert's potoroo, was missing for 115 years before it was rediscovered in the south of Western Australia in 1994.
This seal was declared extinct in 1892. So what is it doing alive and well today? Ian Sample 2010
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The mammals include a number of well-known animals such as the eastern grey kangaroo Macropus giganteus, the red-necked wallaby M. rufogriseus, wallaroo M. robustus, koala Phasocarctos cinereus and wombat Vombatus ursinus, the greater glider Petaurus volans, the squirrel glider P. norfolcensis, mountain brushtailed possum Trichosurus caninus; also the rarer spotted-tailed quoll Dasyurus maculatus (VU), long-nosed potoroo Potorous tridactylus (VU), yellow-bellied glider Petaurus australis and brush-tailed rock wallaby Petrogale penicillata (VU).
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The long-nosed potoroo (Potorous tridactylus) is widespread on Tasmania, whereas the Tasmanian bettong (Bettongia gaimardi) is restricted to dry sclerophyll forest in eastern Tasmania, and the little pygmy possum (Cercartetus lepidus) prefers dry sclerophyll forest as well.
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September 24, 2008 6:06 PM potoroo, australia said...
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Long-nosed potoroo (Potorous tridactylus), Australia.
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As the great continent of Australia became known, it was found that the great mass of its mammalia, from the gigantic kangaroo to the pigmy, mouse-like potoroo, belonged to this singular order.
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A population of captive-bred dibblers, an endangered marsupial from Western Australia, was successfully moved to a predator-free island two decades ago, and the movement to another island of Gilbert's potoroo, an endangered Australian mammal, has also worked.
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Ms Wellman said foxes took a huge toll on endangered species along the coast, and were a big problem for shorebirds such as pied oyster catchers and little terns, as well as for mammals such as wallabies and the long-nosed potoroo.
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Someone would follow our directions and lay hair tubes in the hope of confirming the potoroo presence that might potentially have saved its forest habitat.
reesetee commented on the word potoroo
Also called "kangaroo rat"--any of several small, ratlike kangaroos of the genus Potorous, of Australia.
August 21, 2007