Like many great species of animal, the numbers of Rufous Wallaby on Tasmania have decreased over the years due to hunting and trapping, which has relegated the creature from a very common to a rare inhabitant of the scrubs. The Tasmanian ringtail opossum is probably the most common marsupial of the island, although the species has been much reduced in numbers too. Many color varieties exist, ranging from nearly white to black. The ringtail makes its nests in hollow trees and branches, like a squirrel. Another opossum species, the Tasmanian brush-tail opossum, is the most valuable furbearer of Tasmania because its blackish-brown fur is thicker and longer than that of the mainland form. It is therefore extensively trapped, even in the closed season.

Three other opossum species are found on the island-the sugar glider, popularly called "flying squirrel" because of its ability to glide from one tree to another and its resemblance to a squirrel; the pigmy; and the little Tasmanian pigmy opossum. The island wombat of Tasmania and Flinders Island lives in all kinds of desolate places, and is even found high in the mountains. This clumsy and stoutly-built animal looks like a quaint tail-less rat, and has no commercial value at all, thanks to the rough nature of its fur. As wombats make intensive burrows, and, therefore, do some damage to fencing, they are still unprotected and are being destroyed as pests. Fortunately the animal is able to live in the most rugged and poorest parts of the island, and is still rather common in those places. The species has been exterminated, however, on all of the Bass Strait islands except for Flinders Island, where it is rare.

As all the wombat species on the mainland are rare, Tasmania is about the only place where these speedy diggers have a good stronghold for the future. There are two rat-kangaroo species to be found on the island of Tasmania, the Tasmanian rat-kangaroo and the long-nosed rat-kangaroo. The latter is sub-species of the mainland form. Rat-kangaroos are small, kangaroo-like animals of the size of a small rabbit. During most of the day they lie curled in a grassy nest under a fallen tree or a small bush, but if startled they will travel with remarkable speed for a short distance and then dash off for cover. Their slender tails are used in a practical way for carrying nesting material. They live in colonies near grassy plains on the outskirts of forests.

Rat-kangaroos have nearly disappeared from the mainland, mainly through depredation by foxes. As foxes have not been introduced on Tasmania, smaller marsupials have a better chance of survival on this island than on the continent of Australia.