The first scientific discovery of the Gilbert’s potoroo happened in 1840, and it was named in 1841 after the English naturalist and explorer John Gilbert. Gilbert had collected several animals at King George Sound in Australia, including this potoroo. Gilbert’s potoroo was not seenagain for many years, even though many people had searched for them in the 1970s. The species was believed to be extinct for 120 years before it was re-discovered in 1994 in Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve. Liz Sinclair had been studying wallabies and caught the potoroo in one of her traps.