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 little animals.
But these are not just any animals. They belong to the “western quolls,” which are a special kind of marsupial meat-eater.
Before, this species was spread all over Australia, but since Europeans started settling there, their numbers have dropped significantly.
Today, western quolls, also called chuditchs, are only found in the southwestern part of Australia and only in small groups.
This type of marsupial grows to about cat size and plays an important role in its habitat. They help keep populations of smaller insects as well as some reptiles and birds under control.
New hope
Over recent months, researchers have been trying to bring back these marsupials to Mt Gibson Wildlife Sanctuary where they had vanished before.
Now with the new discovery of baby marsupials it’s clear that their efforts have paid off. The animals seem to be doing well there and are reproducing without problems.
“By regularly checking on them we can see that 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 shows up often on our camera traps set up at release spots. He’s one of our biggest and most colorful quolls with a big personality – he often visits multiple sites collecting chicken we use as bait while 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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