<
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2024/sep/25/quolls-and-bettongs-join-bilbies-and-bandicoots-as-locally-extinct-species-reintroduced-to-nsw-national-park>
"Quolls and bettongs delivered to the far north-west corner of New South Wales
are the final piece of a decade-long project to reintroduce seven locally
extinct mammals to the arid desert landscape.
Twenty burrowing bettongs and 20 western quolls have been released into Sturt
national park as part of the Wild Deserts project. They joined previously
released and flourishing populations of bilbies, bandicoots and mulgaras (a
small but ferocious native predator).
Dr Rebecca West, Wild Deserts principal ecologist, said six out of seven
mammals had been successfully returned to the park and were helping to repair
damage wrought since European colonisation.
“It’s like time-travelling”, she said. “We’re reversing and going back to what
it would have been like 200 years ago if you set up camp in the Strzelecki
desert.”
In daylight hours, the work of “ecosystem engineers” – the bilbies and bettongs
– was evident in vegetation like saltbushes and sticky hop bushes which
sprouted from seeds that collected in foraging pits, she said. “They dig for
their food and burrows, and that turns over the soil and helps with plant
growth and nutrient cycling.”
Night-time was when the “real magic happens”, she said. “You can drive along
and see a bilby dart across the track in front of you, or a Shark Bay bandicoot
with a couple of young trailing after it.”
The arid zone, which covered 70% of Australia, was one of the country’s most
changed ecosystems, West said. As native mammals were “wiped out”, the desert
environment became less resilient and less diverse.
A partnership between Wild Deserts and NSW National Parks was reversing that
process. Starting with bilbies and mulgaras, mammals had been gradually
reintroduced into two predator-free havens and a larger 100 sq km “training
zone”."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
