3 native animals that help us and now need our help in return
Quolls:
Right now, the Eastern, Spotted-tail and Northern Quoll are all listed nationally as Endangered… and the Western Quoll is listed as Vulnerable. The Eastern Quoll, once widespread throughout south-eastern Australia, has been extinct on the mainland since the 1960s. Why is this important?
Quolls play a really important role in the ecosystem. As predators of small mammals, they aid in the control of small mammal populations. They also eat carrion, thus cleaning the environment. And they even have a positive economic importance for humans, benefiting agriculture by removing insect pests.
Bandicoots:
Did you know there were once eight species of bandicoot living in southern Australia? Now there’s just one. Only the Southern Brown Bandicoot can still be found in this large region and that too is endangered. In fact, its numbers have been on a steady decline in recent years.
Why is this important? Bandicoots for example, play a really important role in the health of soil. They excel at digging. In fact, a southern brown bandicoot can excavate over 3.9 tonnes of soil per year! That digging aerates the earth and brings deep soils and their nutrients to the surface. These ‘ecosystem engineers’ mix and trap organic matter and other materials, increasing nutrient turnover. Their digging also increases soil moisture and helps to distribute the spores of critical fungi, which in turn helps native plants to cope with nutrient-poor Australian soils.
Turtles:
Then there are turtles… for 220 million years, Turtles have been the great survivors. Yet now, the populations of three native freshwater species in the Murray River alone have dropped by more than 90% in just 40 years. These freshwater turtles keep water quality high in our river systems. They’re scavengers that get rid of all the dead fish and any other rotting animals in rivers, keeping them clean.
All three of these threatened native animals are massively affected by the combined threats of feral predators like foxes and cats as well as human impact. Your support of this important appeal will not just save beautiful animals… you’ll be helping to save Australia’s ecosystems.
The Big Picture:
Threatened Species Day is held each year on 7 September to commemorate the death of the last remaining Tasmanian Tiger at Hobart Zoo on this day in 1936. Sadly, in just the past 50 years, 14 further native mammals have joined the Thylacine as extinct!
Here at FNPW we want to prevent any further extinctions of Australia's beautiful creatures. In this special appeal, we’re asking for your support to protect our environment by enabling us to conduct more programs to save the many threatened species that need our immediate assistance.
Will you contribute to the big picture?
Thank you in anticipation of your valued support.
Yours sincerely,
Ian Darbyshire
CEO - Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife