Which Australian mammal is considered the world’s rarest marsupial?

Gilbert’s potoroo is widely described as the world’s rarest marsupial.

This small nocturnal potoroid was thought extinct for more than a century before a population was rediscovered near Albany, Western Australia, in 1994. It now survives naturally at Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve, with conservation populations also managed elsewhere.

Gilbert’s potoroos eat underground fungi, especially truffles and other fungal fruiting bodies. Their digging helps disturb soil and may assist fungal spore dispersal, linking the species to the health of its habitat.

The population remains vulnerable because it is small and concentrated in one main wild location. Fire, introduced predators such as foxes, disease, and environmental change can all threaten it. Gilbert’s potoroo is sometimes confused with the more widespread long-nosed potoroo, but the two are separate species.