Help save the eastern bettong

By AG STAFF 4 September 2023
Reading Time: < 1 Print this page
After becoming extinct on the mainland in the 1920s, eastern bettongs are making a comeback.

Also called balbo or ngaluda in the Ngunnawal language, eastern bettongs (Bettongia gaimardi) are ecosystem engineers impacting where they live by dispersing spores of the native truffles they eat, turning and renewing soil and leaving diggings that promote native plant growth.

They also use their semi-prehensile tails to collect and transport grasses and bark, which they use to build nests.

The eastern bettong was driven to extinction on the mainland for almost 100 years by foxes, feral cats and hunting by early pastoralists. But it’s been successfully reintroduced at Wildbark, a nature reserve near Canberra run by conservation not-for-profit Odonata.

Donations will support the use of individual animals from Wildbark to re-establish eastern bettong populations throughout Victoria and New South Wales.

Please make a tax deductible donation today. Donate here.