There is now optimism for a species that was nearly extinct.
A team of scientists in Australia is excited after their attempts to breed the species appear to have worked.
Recently, ecologists at the Mt Gibson Wildlife Sanctuary in Australia made an amazing find.
In the sanctuary, they discovered a group of tiny and spiky newborn creatures.
But these are not just any animals. They are part of the “western quolls,” which are a unique kind of marsupial predator.
Once, this species roamed all over Australia; however, since Europeans began settling there, their numbers have dropped significantly.
Today, western quolls—also called chuditchs—are only found in small groups in the southwestern part of Australia.
This type of marsupial grows to about cat size and plays an important role in nature. They help keep populations of smaller insects and some reptiles and birds under control.
New hope
In recent months, researchers have been trying to bring back these marsupials to Mt Gibson Wildlife Sanctuary where they had previously disappeared.
Now with the new discovery of baby marsupials it’s clear that their efforts paid off. The animals seem to be doing well there and reproducing without problems.
“We can see through regular checks that the quolls are thriving at the sanctuary. Finding pouch young is a great sign they’ve adapted well,” said Georgina Anderson AWC Senior Field Ecologist.
“One quoll we named Aang visits our camera traps often at release spots. He’s one of our biggest and most colorful quolls with a fun personality – he frequently goes around collecting chicken we use as bait and messing with our bait containers,” she added.
What joy it brings seeing hope for this species! Hopefully it can soon flourish across Australia again!
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