All that\u2019s been found of the little bettong in recent years are its mummified remains and bones. Lead author Jake Newman-Martin only realised they belonged to a unique species after studying its teeth and limbs during his PhD study of Australia’s bettong species.<\/a><\/p>\n The inside of the caves is moist, while above ground it\u2019s hot and windy. Source: Jake Newman-Martin<\/p>\n Surprising reason little bettong bones were preserved<\/p>\n Newman-Martin describes walking across the extinct animal\u2019s former homeland as an \u201ceerie\u201d experience. \u201cAbove the Nullabor, there\u2019s nothing around, it\u2019s hot and windy,\u201d he told Yahoo News.<\/p>\n Then, when you enter the Horseshoe Cave, where the little bettong\u2019s remains have been collected, it feels as if you\u2019ve entered an air-conditioned room. \u201cYou can feel the air blowing out of the cave, because there\u2019s a whole system of them attached underground,\u201d Newman-Martin said.<\/p>\n The mummified remains of an extinct little bettong. Source: Zootaxa<\/p>\n Had it not been for the caves, the little bettong could have been wiped away without a trace. But its bones have been left on its floor by predatory owls, which once favoured them as a food source.<\/p>\n \u201cThe owls regurgitate the bones into what are called pellets, and over thousands of years, they build up. So these cave floors are covered in the bones of small mammals, birds and reptiles. It\u2019s not really sand or rocks, it\u2019s just bones everywhere in all directions,\u201d Newman-Martin said.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s an accumulation of species. You pick up something and know it could be from a species that\u2019s not with us anymore. It\u2019s astounding. It blows you away.\u201d<\/p>\n Incredible discovery could help rare species avoid extinction<\/p>\n Australia has the worst record of mammalian extinction in the world,<\/a> and this discovery only cements this sad distinction. But the Curtin University-led research hasn\u2019t only revealed new information about the dead, they\u2019ve made an extraordinary discovery about a rare animal, the woylie, that could help prevent it from being wiped out.<\/p>\n By examining the jawbones of critically endangered brush-tailed bettongs (also known as the woylie), they have found two distinct subspecies, the forest woylie (Bettongia ogilbyi sylvatica) and the scrub woylie (Bettongia ogilbyi ogilbyi).<\/p>\n A woylie hopping after it was translocated. Source: Brad Leue<\/p>\n Identifying this distinction is important because woylies are being moved all around the country to try and create new populations<\/a> and prevent its extinction. And putting a subspecies into a new environment where its teeth haven\u2019t adapted to eat the vegetation could be detrimental to its survival.<\/p>\n \u201cThere’s only about 12,000 woylies left in the world, and about 4,000 individuals have been translocated. That\u2019s not to say it\u2019s a bad thing, but we need to be careful or we are potentially sacrificing a critically endangered species,\u201d Newman-Martin said.<\/p>\n Loss of woylies impacts wider ecosystem<\/p>\n Woylies are important to the environment and are considered ecosystem engineers. They\u2019re constantly digging, looking for fungi, roots and invertebrates to eat, and this foraging is essential for spreading seeds and spores around.<\/p>\n When they\u2019re lost from an ecosystem, it begins to decay, so translocating woylies is considered important not only for the species but the wider environment.<\/p>\n The Curtin University-led bettong research was a collaboration with the Western Australian Museum and Murdoch University. This work involved examining 193 bettongs held in collections in Australia and England.<\/p>\n Their work indicates we\u2019re just scratching the surface when it comes to understanding the small mammals that have vanished from Australia\u2019s deserts. They also found what was thought to be two subspecies of woylie, the living Bettongia penicillata ogilbyi and extinct Bettongia penicillata penicillata were actually completely separate species.<\/p>\n Skulls of bettong from the Curtin University investigation: A) Bettongia ogilbyi sylvatica, B) Bettongia ogilbyi odontoploica, C) Bettongia penicillata, D) Bettongia ogilbyi ogilbyi, E) Bettongia haoucharae, and F) Bettongia ogilbyi francisca. Source: Zootaxa<\/p>\n How deserts have changed since European settlement<\/p>\n For Newman-Martin, it\u2019s heartbreaking to imagine what Australia has lost. Its arid zones were once teeming with small marsupials, like bettongs, bandicoots, bilbies and possums<\/a>, and today they only survive in small colonies, often in fenced-off sanctuaries to keep them safe from foxes and cats.<\/p>\n \u201cYou read journals from people in the 1800s, when they visited these sites, they would have campfires going, and bandicoots would be coming up to the campfire. They were abundant, like rats,” he said.<\/p>\n \u201cYou go out there, now, it’s just empty. It’s almost devoid of life.\u201d<\/p>\n An artist’s impression of the little bettong. Source: Nellie Pease<\/p>\n Love Australia’s weird and wonderful environment? \ud83d\udc0a\ud83e\udd98\ud83d\ude33 Get our new newsletter<\/a> showcasing the week\u2019s best stories.<\/p>\n![\"Two](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/f6e4aed0-8a0f-11f0-ac67-0646f5618483.png\"\/)
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<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Found deep in a cave hidden beneath Australia\u2019s arid Nullarbor plain, a new species of kangaroo-like mammal has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":120965,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[64,63,33801,85435,85436,85437,85438,17947,29289,128,3439,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-120964","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-critically-endangered","11":"tag-curtin","12":"tag-extinct-animal","13":"tag-horseshoe-cave","14":"tag-jake-newman-martin","15":"tag-new-species","16":"tag-rare-species","17":"tag-science","18":"tag-western-australia","19":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=120964"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/120964\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/120965"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=120964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=120964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=120964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}