‘Mini kangaroos’ hop back after 100 years in Australia

SYDNEY: The brush-tailed bettong — a rare, very cute marsupial resembling a rabbit-sized kangaroo — is bouncing back on the South Australian mainland, more than 100 years after disappearing from the region.

Bettongs, which leap with their hindlegs much like a full-sized kangaroo, populated over 60 per cent of Australia before falling victim to cats, foxes and land-clearing after European settlement more than two centuries ago.

Now they are making a comeback in South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula, after wildlife scientists released 120 of the animals over a two-year period to see if they could survive outside of predator-proof enclosures or islands.

New monitoring shows they are thriving, researchers said on Friday.

Scientists said they had trapped 85 brush-tailed bettongs, finding that 40pc of them were new animals born in the peninsula and 42 of the 45 females had young in their pouches.

“It’s fantastic to see so many new animals in the population,” said Derek Sandow, ecologist for the Northern and Yorke Landscape Board.