White-footed rabbit rat

The white-footed rabbit rat, Conilurus albipes, is an extinct Australian rodent. It was originally found in woodlands from Adelaide to Sydney but later survived only in south-eastern Australia. About the size of a kitten, it was one of the largest native rodents on the continent. It was nocturnal and lived among trees, building nests of leaves, and possibly grass, in the limbs of hollow eucalyptus trees, and the mother carried her young attached to her teats. Sydney Aboriginal people called it gnar-ruck, which translates as rabbit-biscuit, and it was a problem in settlers' stores around 1788. The last specimen was recorded about 1845, although later sightings were reported in 1856 to 1857 and perhaps in the 1930s. Disease or competition from rats, predation by cats and the end of Aboriginal firestick burning of woodland have all been suggested as reasons for its disappearance.