Once considered extinct, Gilbert’s potoroo is still around thanks to conservation efforts

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2025-02-06 00:01

Australia; WA

Michael Wakefield (CC-BY-3.0)

Ngilkat, or Gilbert's potoroo, survived a potential extinction-level event thanks to conservation efforts, according to Australian research. The small potoroo species was once thought to be extinct before being rediscovered in 1994 at Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve, WA. Australian researchers have documented the conservation efforts following that rediscovery, which included relocating some of the potoroos to two other locations to create 'insurance populations'. The researchers say this strategy proved critical when Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve was hit by a bushfire in 2015, leaving the original population functionally extinct. The researchers say work is currently underway to re-establish a population at the reserve using the two insurance populations - showing the value of this sort of strategy for conserving threatened species that could otherwise be wiped out in a single disaster.

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Research CSIRO Publishing, Web page The URL will go live after the embargo ends

Journal/
conference: Pacific Conservation Biology

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: Government of Western Australia

Funder: Funding has been provided by the Western Australian Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions, the Australian Commonwealth Government under various funding programs including the National Landcare Program through South Coast Natural Resource Management; Edith Cowan University, Gilbert’s Potoroo Action Group, Western Australian State Natural Resource Management Program, National Geographic Society, Earth Sanctuaries Foundation, and the BankWest Landscope Conservation Visa Card Program.

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