Shy wombat steps into the light Only around 400 northern hairy\u2011nosed wombats<\/a> remain after decades of painstaking work to reverse their decline.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s very gratifying to know that one of the world\u2019s most critically endangered animals is doing well and breeding within the safety of the fenced area,\u201d said Howe, recalling that numbers bottomed out at just 35 animals in the late 1990s.<\/p>\n The joey\u2019s smooth coat and sturdy build suggest plentiful forage and low stress, two metrics ecologists rarely get to confirm in the field. <\/p>\n Because the species<\/a> is nocturnal and wary, every clear daylight image helps researchers refine population models and track body condition.<\/p>\n Why a spiky passerby stayed calm<\/p>\n The echidna, one of only five egg\u2011laying mammals or monotremes, carried on as if nothing happened. <\/p>\n Echidnas<\/a> deter attackers by erecting sharp spines and, when pressed, curling into a compact ball that exposes only hardened quills, a textbook defense noted by zoologists.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a nervous wombat and a happy echidna,\u201d joked biologist Tim Flannery<\/a> of the Australian Museum<\/a> after watching the clip.<\/p>\n Digging for survival<\/p>\n The northern hairy\u2011nosed wombat is the largest burrowing marsupial<\/a>, stretching to a yard in length and weighing up to 77\u202fpounds, with some individuals living three decades in the wild. <\/p>\n Its barrel\u2011shaped body, forward\u2011facing pouch, and chisel\u2011like claws turn sandy soils into elaborate tunnel networks that buffer heat and predators.<\/p>\n Inside those networks the animals conserve water, ride out droughts, and minimize energy loss, emerging only at night to graze on native grasses. <\/p>\n Because females raise a single joey no more than every two years, each new youngster represents a sizeable share of future genetic diversity.<\/p>\n Betting on new homes<\/p>\n In 2009 conservationists launched an ambitious translocation, moving 15 wombats into the 320\u2011acre Richard Underwood refuge<\/a> behind predator\u2011proof fencing. <\/p>\n Fifteen years on, at least the same number now live there as residents rather than transplants, and the latest juvenile shows that second\u2011generation wombats are thriving without human hand\u2011feeding.<\/p>\n Camera traps, set low along open runways, let ecologists confirm pouch emergence dates, monitor health, and detect any intruding wild dogs before disaster strikes. <\/p>\n Success at this site has revived plans for a third population farther west, reducing the risk that fire, disease, or floods could wipe out the species in a single blow.<\/p>\n Why wombats like burrows<\/p>\n Wombats earn the label ecosystem engineer because their 300\u2011foot\u2011long burrows moderate temperature and humidity for many smaller animals; \u201cburrows are essential for regulating underground temperature and humidity,\u201d noted Dave\u202fHarper<\/a> of Queensland\u2019s threatened species unit.<\/p>\n Researchers have since documented<\/a> reptiles, small birds, and even introduced mammals using wombat tunnels as wildfire refuges and drought shelters. <\/p>\n By churning sub\u2011soil to the surface the animals also aerate compacted ground and accelerate nutrient cycling, boosting grass growth for grazers that share their range.<\/p>\n Conservationists argue that restoring wombats across their former territories could amplify these soil benefits while giving embattled species new<\/a> hideouts during Australia\u2019s increasingly severe heatwaves.<\/p>\n Conserving charisma\u2011free species<\/p>\n Northern hairy\u2011nosed wombats lack the global fame of koalas<\/a>, yet their story shows how science, rural landholders, and careful media moments can rally support. <\/p>\n Every fresh glimpse of a healthy joey, especially one tossing dirt at an indifferent echidna<\/a>, helps translate spreadsheets of recovery targets into an image ordinary people remember.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Ecologists at Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) were ecstatic when they captured rare footage of a critically endangered, juvenile Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat strolling around Richard Underwood Nature Refuge (RUNR) in south-west Queensland. With only 400 individuals remaining in the world, every single wombat sighting counts.<\/p>\n Long term, the program still hinges on predator control, genetic monitoring, and enough grassy habitat to feed expanding colonies, but small wins on trail cameras keep field teams motivated. <\/p>\n If additional safe sites come online before the next severe drought, researchers believe the population can pass the 500\u2011animal threshold that lowers extinction risk.<\/p>\n Wombats are quickly disappearing<\/p>\n Before Europeans arrived, northern hairy\u2011nosed wombats ranged from central Queensland down into New South Wales and northern Victoria. <\/p>\n But widespread land clearing for sheep and cattle grazing destroyed much of the open woodland they relied on for food and shelter<\/a>.<\/p>\n They were also directly targeted. In 1884, over a thousand wombats were shot on a single property in the Riverina region. <\/p>\n Habitat loss, competition with livestock, and predation by dingoes and wild dogs pushed the species to the brink by the 1980s.<\/p>\n The images used for this news item have been taken from the Australian Wildlife Conservancy<\/a> channel.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n Like what you read? Subscribe to our newsletter<\/a> for engaging articles, exclusive content, and the latest updates.\u00a0<\/p>\n Check us out on EarthSnap<\/a>, a free app brought to you by Eric Ralls<\/a> and Earth.com.<\/p>\n \u2014\u2013<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A hidden camera at Richard Underwood Nature Refuge in southwest Queensland has captured an unlikely scuffle: a juvenile…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":13738,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[27],"tags":[159,67,132,68,837],"class_list":{"0":"post-13737","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-united-states","10":"tag-unitedstates","11":"tag-us","12":"tag-wildlife"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114744514590400840","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13737","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13737"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13737\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13738"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13737"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13737"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13737"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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