Meet Bettina, a 4-month-old orphaned baby brushtail possum who was found last month in Mosman, Australia, a suburb of Sydney.
Starving, badly dehydrated and alone, Bettina was brought to the Taronga Wildlife Hospital for care. There, she bonded with the closest thing she has to a mom: a little stuffed kangaroo.
"At this age she would naturally still be with her mother, so the soft toy gives her something to snuggle for comfort," said veterinary nurse Felicity Evans, who has been giving the possum round-the-clock care. "It’s not as fluffy and woolly as an adult brushtail possum, but she clings to it using her claws and teeth as she would do with mum in the wild."
In her role as Bettina's surrogate mother, Evans has carried the little possum around in a pouch, said the hospital, which is part of the Taronga Zoo. But it's the kangaroo Bettina seems to love best, clinging to it as she feeds and sleeps.
So far, Bettina is making an excellent recovery.
"She’s feeding really well and is quite a vocal little thing. She’ll sit in the spare room next to me and call out when she’s ready to feed," Evans said.
Eventually, Bettina will be transferred to a more specialized facility and then released back into the wild, the hospital said.
The zoo posted additional pictures of little Bettina on its Facebook page:
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