Australia is the planet's extinction hotspot, but one animal offers a glimmer of hope
Australia is facing an extinction crisis, but conservation efforts in Western Australia have successfully helped the numbat population recover, leading to its removal from the international red list of threatened species. The report highlights the broader struggle against habitat loss and invasive species in the region.
Why it matters
The numbat's recovery serves as a rare success story in a country currently identified as a global hotspot for biodiversity loss.
Australia is the planet's extinction hotspot, but one animal offers a glimmer of hope
Image source, Getty Images/Sharon Jones/BBC By Tiffanie Turnbull Reporting from Dryandra, Western Australia "Eyes peeled," comes the order from the front passenger seat.
Obediently, we scan the ends and tops of logs, looking between low scrub and patches of vivid wildflowers for a flash of stripes or a dart of movement.
Eluding us is the numbat, a rare Australian marsupial which could be the love-child of a chipmunk and an anteater.
Numbats were once populous across the bottom half of the continent, but Dryandra Woodland – in the south-western corner of Australia – is one of the few places they remain.
As we slowly roll along bush tracks, researchers explain how this annual trip helps plot the species' survival.
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