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With its miniature kangaroo looks, the brush-tailed bettong is about as cute—and rare—as they come. The bettong carry their young in pouches much like kangaroos, but when faced with a predator they differ. When in danger, the animal ejects their joey from protection and flees in the opposite direction. A surprisingly brutal instinct, yes, but also a tactic for survival honed over generations. And yet, up until as little as four years ago the brush-tailed bettong was deemed extinct in the Yorke Peninsula of South Australia. With the help of local wildlife conservation groups like Marna Banggara, these rare and lovable marsupials are starting to bounce back.
Also known as the woylie or yalgiri, the Bettongia penicillate is a member of the bipedal marsupial rat-kangaroo family. In the past, bettongs existed throughout 60% of the Australian continent. However, colonization’s introduction of new predators and destruction of wildlife habitats threatened the population. Woylie numbers also dropped drastically between 1990 and 2010, with a blood borne parasite as the main suspect for such decline.
The wildlife conservation group Marna Banggara has been working to bring back the bettong population in the Yorke Peninsula, as well as other native species that have nearly disappeared since colonization. Launched in 2019 by the Northern and Yorke Landscape Board, Marna Banggara was originally named the “Great Southern Ark” initiative. This name change honors the native Narungga people of the region, who have been extensively involved with the project. Garry Goldsmith, Narungga community member and initiative participant, explains the meaning behind the name: “Marna in our language means good, prosperous, healthy, and Banggara means country.”
The Narungga have a word for the bettong as well, which is yalgiri. These adorable marsupials were the first species to be worked on through the conservation project, making them, funnily enough, guinea pigs for the Marna Banggara initiative. A predator-control fence enclosing over 350,000 acres of land ensured ease of revival for the 200 or so woylies introduced to the area between 2021 and 2023. These conditions and efforts have proven successful, with recent monitoring showing a steady increase in population and reproduction.
While the brush-tailed bettong’s cuteness is certainly reason enough to bring it back from extinction, there was another motive behind why Marna Banggara sought to revive this particular species before any others. Woylies are sometimes referred to as “nature’s engineers” because of their eating habits. Their primary diet of underground fungi requires the marsupials to dig through large quantities of earth, which aerates the soil and, in effect, increases water filtration and seed germination.
With a population of yalgiri not just surviving but thriving, other critically endangered species yet to be revived by the Marna Banggara project will also have a better ecosystem to grow in. The brush-tailed bettong may be tiny, but as we can clearly see, they are nothing short of mighty.
To learn more about the wildlife conservation project, visit the Marna Banggara website.
Brush-tailed bettongs, an adorable and rare marsupial, have made a recent comeback from extinction in Southern Australia.
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The bettong species’ revival has laid the groundwork for other endangered and extinct animals native to the area to come back as well.
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Marna Banggara, the initiative responsible for this exciting development, means “good, prosperous, healthy country” in the local Narungga language. Watch the video below to see an important role the Narungga played in these revival efforts.
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Northern and Yorke Landscape Board: Website | Facebook
Marna Banggara: Website
Source: It looks like a tiny kangaroo and it’s bouncing back from the brink of extinction
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