PHOTO: Bella the Brush-tailed bettong is the first Pilliga-born bettong in what is expected to be a population of 2,600. (Supplied)
Last year saw the joyful re-establishment of bilbies, Pilliga mice and the bridled nailtail wallaby within the Pilliga forest, and now the area is welcoming their newest generation of brush-tailed bettongs since being reintroduced.
Late last year, 55 pioneering bettongs were translocated from Western Australia to the Pilliga State Conservation Area, in a fenced site protected from cat and foxes, that has allowed other reintroduced nocturnal species to thrive.
Since then, the population has grown by one, after ecologists discovered the first baby brush-tailed bettong in the Pilliga during their first survey, naming her Bella…