However, its recent introduction of captive-raised bettongs has broken new ground.<\/p>\n
Initially, four animals underwent veterinary health checks to ensure they would not compromise the existing population, but one of those has since died.<\/p>\n
The group spent more than two months in a temporary holding pen to get used to their new surroundings and life in the wild.<\/p>\n
There was immediate encouragement when the northern bettongs were seen exhibiting wild behaviour by using their prehensile tails to gather grass material to form nests on the ground.<\/p>\n
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Felicity L’Hotellier checks on a northern bettong at the Mount Zero-Taravale wildlife sanctuary. (Supplied: Australian Wildlife Conservancy)<\/p>\n
Ecologists have also been encouraged by evidence of digging around for wild food, given the species’ particular dietary needs<\/a>.<\/p>\n “Their preference is for truffles, and that’s one of the things that makes them so, so important for the landscape,” senior field ecologist Felicity L’Hotellier said.<\/p>\n “They have a significant role in distributing truffle spores as they dig around for food and, in turn, those truffles are important for forest health \u2014 they help trees access different nutrients in the soil.”<\/p>\n Numbers in decline<\/p>\n Two of the captive-raised bettongs now living on the wild side are females, while the other is a 10-year-old male \u2014 bucking the species’ seven-year life expectancy.<\/p>\n Ecologists continue to monitor them through camera traps, and it’s hoped they will breed, adding to the genetic diversity of the sanctuary’s northern bettongs.<\/p>\n A 13-kilometre fence separates protected native species from feral predators at Mount Zero-Taravale. (Supplied: Australian Wildlife Conservancy)<\/p>\n However, Ms L’Hotellier said while predator-free sanctuaries were a “tool in the toolbox” for northern bettong conservation, the long-term goal was restoring the species to its former range once again.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n