Is this photograph of a Bridled Nailtail Wallaby and should it be in Scotia National Park near Broken Hill in south western New South Wales?
Photograph by Phil Cole, Scotia National Park, June 2008
The Bridled Nailtail Wallaby (Onychogalea fraenata) is considered endangered under CITES and some claim its range is now limited to central Queensland.
For more information on kangaroos and wallabies and to see another picture from Phil Cole of what we think is a Bridled Nailtail Wallaby visit: http://www.jennifermarohasy.com/wiki/Population_Numbers .
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Captive-bred Nailtails were translocated to Scotia about 4 years ago.
AndrewT,
Thanks for the info. And what a good news story!
Jennifer – not sure where to post this but I’m sure you will be interested.
125,000 ‘lost’ gorillas found in the Congo
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/scotland/article4467065.ece
AndrewT thanks for the info. Do you know whether the moving of captive bred Bridled Nailtail Wallabies is part of a programme? If so, is it a NSW National Parks and Wildlife programme or a Uni research programme?
I hope those transported, captive bred Nail-tails were put in a dog proof enclosure.
Without either this or steep, rocky escarpments for refuge they haven’t got any chance against dogs and foxes.
Some of “my” wallabies of various breeds, even with these escarpments, have been reduced to such small gene pools that their futures are very questionable.
While the dogs and foxes can’t catch and kill the adults in this terrain, they force the females to cast their larger young and they will eventually die out.
Good news to see they are there. My Australian Mamals book was printed 4 years ago, so does not mention any populations there, if they are a recent release. It only lists 2 populations in Qld. They used to occur all the way to Northern Vic.
Does anyone know how to energise EPAs, Nat Parks etc into doing anything for wildlife via the eradication of ferals?
In the last 3 years our koala population has disappeared completely and many other species are in rapid decline.
Local govts make some effort but state and fed do nothing.
They know what’s causing it but do nothing about it.
If ferals had rabies [heaven forbid] do you think something would be done?
They’d probably just vaccinate everyone and leave the wildlife to sort themselves out.
The NSW Game Council is trying to get permission to control feral animals where ever they occur. The national parks association recently came out and said the NSW Game Council is not controlling pests where they need to be controlled, as they only operate in State Forests at the moment. I see this a a breakthrough as the National Parks have now acknowledged that having conservation hunters controlling pests in National Parks would be a benefit.
Goodoo,
This seems like a step in the right direction but the unsurmountable problem is dingoes.
These feral Malasian dogs have been in Australia a mere 4000 years [a blink of an eye in evolutionary terms] yet they are considered by National Parks to be a native even though the “breed” has been diluted by domestic ferals.
It [dingo conservation] seems to be a totally unscientific and stupid argument and is the basis for the ruination of native wildlife preservation strategies.
As an example, take Fraser Is. where there is almost no ground dwelling native wildlife which are in abundance in other similar areas with limited dingo population.
I had not looked at dingos that way but I think you are right. I had thought of dingos as native and the distruction of any wild dogs which looked non-pure dingo as a benefit to the dingos. Maby we should treat all wild dogs the same. I think this will be difficult to convince authorities.
Well,
Since “its range is now limited to central Queensland”, it will be an invasive species if it goes anywhere else.
It might even breed with other wallabies, violating the ‘species barrier’!
Someone needs to build a wall. I hear there are some Soviets and Stasi who are good at this ‘preserving biodiversity’ thing.
Well,
Since “its range is now limited to central Queensland”, it will be an invasive species if it goes anywhere else.
It might even breed with other wallabies, violating the ‘species barrier’!
Someone needs to build a wall. I hear there are some Soviets and Stasi who are good at this ‘preserving biodiversity’ thing.
“Someone needs to build a wall.” – Schiller Thurkettle.
I hear Israelis are pretty good at this sort of thing.
How many people posting to this blog are willing to get a license and a rifle and go and do their bit to help reduce the wild dog population?
Or if you are reluctant to do the actual shooting, how about lobbying hard for sport shooters to be given wider latitude or even bounties to help out, and speak up in favor of the shooters everytime the anti-gunners raise their ugly heads?
Just wondering…
Brian,
Shooting wild dogs and foxes is extremely difficult even in remote areas when they are in big numbers.
1080 baiting has always been the most selective and successful method.
Not much fun for hunters but if you’re looking for sport, pigs are a better proposition.
In areas of greatest biodiversity where there is large incursion of residential development govts have thrown their hands in the air on feral predator control and this is causing the complete demise of koalas, wallabies and all dog-prey size fauna.
I agree that 1080 is effective but is not as selective as shooting to non target species. I think it should be used but possably less than at the moment and more carefuly. In NZ DOC thought their 1080 poisening of possums was not efecting native species but they could not work out why Kea numbers were dropping. This year 15 were fitted with radio tracking. After poisening they found 7 out of 15 were killed by the 1080. Shooting should always be included in control programs as some animals will not touch baits.
On the sport of hunting, I find a day walking through the bush enjoyable even if I never see the animal I am hunting. It is also a lot better for you than sitting infront of the TV.
Stumbled onto this kind of late, but since i worked with nailtails this winter, I wanted to comment. They are native to Queensland, but I do not consider them an invasive animal to NSW. Invasive implies that they are breeding and spreading over the landscape to the detriment of the ecosystem. I do hope that all of you will spread more awareness for these animals as they are the most endangered macropods in the world.
On the subject of invasive species, I do not think we should demonize them and try to kill them off without considering the ethics and the full impact. 1080 has not been very effective for the dingos in the areas I’ve worked because it’s often taken by birds. Additionally, it is a horrible poison and causes a very painful death. Yes, i agree it’s necessary to protect endangered animals from predators, but I also think we shouldn’t be flippant about the lives of very intelligent and very conscious animals either. Additionally, even though dingos are not native, they are the largest predator on the Australian continent, and it can be argued, has replaced the thylacine in that role. Thus, indiscriminate killing of them may bring about negative consequences to the environment, including encouraging animals like foxes to move in. Dingoes have coexisted with all these wallabies for the last 4000 years in some way (since they’re still alive), but foxes have not. Which one’s more dangerous?
dingos i was camping in a national park in the noosa region a couple of years ago and witnessed dingos killing kangaroos for the fun of it, we reported it and nothing was done even though they the dingos did not belong in this park, yet the kangaroo population went from hundreds to only 10 on a huge football field in two years and yes they were dingos they did not bark and we got a close up view we nearly ran one over as we were leaving to go home we saw them three times during the one week camping holiday i think they are a bad thing for areas where they dont belong
Hey Jennifer,
I am doing an assignment on Taunton National Park where the Bridled Nailtail Wallaby is found and I was wondering if I would be able to have your permission to use your photograph for this. We are creating a wikipedia article and submitting it for publication, and I will properly reference it back to you.
Cheers,
Kylie
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That’s fine. Jen