The boodie is nocturnal, sheltering during the day in burrows and foraging widely at night for food. Locomotion is mainly with the hind legs. The forelimbs are used for support when the boodie is stationary. This bettong exhibits a slow gait and fast gait. The fast gait (or bipedal hop) is characteristic of the macropodiforms and uses only the hind limbs, with the forelimbs held close to the body and tail acting as a counterbalance. The slow gait (or quadrupedal crawl) is used during foraging and other unstressed times. Nighttime movement is usually fairly limited, averaging less than 200 m. However, researchers have measured this marsupial traveling 2.2 km searching for food. One individual tracked on Barrow Island traveled 5 km. "B. lesueur" uses scent to locate food, which it digs up with the claws on its strong forelimbs. The boodie will even climb into low shrubs to find food. Demonstrating little interspecific interactions, bettongs are apparently undisturbed by run-ins with other non-predators.