Meet the woylie, an eco-engineer bringing life back to degraded ecosystems

In the early hours of the morning Adrian Wayne carefully peels back the edges of a dark cloth bag.

Inside is a recently trapped brush-tailed bettong, known in Western Australia as a woylie.

Crouched on the floor of dense bushland, the senior research scientist meticulously inspects the small, but feisty marsupial.

“He’s a four for body condition, he’s got a good amount of meat on him” Dr Wayne says.

The health of this critically endangered species is important.

The woylie once inhabited 60…