Baby numbats spotted at two wildlife sanctuaries in hopeful sign for one of Australia’s rarest marsupials | Endangered species

The sighting of baby ants at two wildlife sanctuaries in south-west New South Wales has sparked hope for one of Australia’s rarest marsupials.

The video, shot by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC), shows some youngsters exploring outside their den in the Mallee Cliffs national park.

Five silly Joeys, including quadruplets, have been spotted at Mallee Cliffs and two more at the Scotia wildlife sanctuary. The wildlife conservancy is working with state national parks staff in both regions on projects to reintroduce species to predator-free areas.

Videographer and photographer Brad Leue, who captured the footage at Mallee Cliffs, said he watched the animals explore outside the family room, which has an opening about the size of a coffee cup.

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“I was lucky enough to observe them for a few days and get a feel for their routines, which included sharing a room with my mother overnight, going out around 8 a.m., and playing within 50 feet of their house while my mother hunted for termites,” Leue said.

Wildlife ecologist Rachel Ladd from AWC said babies were always a special discovery, “especially for a species that is difficult to detect in the wild, like an anthill.”

“Seeing seven young pangolins lets us know that the population is breeding and becoming more established in suitable environmental conditions.”

Numbats are one of Australia’s rarest marsupials and are listed as endangered under national law.

Unlike other Australian marsupials, they are active during the day and feed exclusively on termites.

Nubats once found It existed throughout much of arid and semi-arid Australia, but by the 1970s it had disappeared from most places except isolated areas of the south-west of Western Australia due to hunting and habitat destruction by wild animals such as foxes and cats.

It is listed as extinct in NSW, but projects such as those at Mallee Cliffs and the Scotia conservancy are reintroducing the animals to re-establish populations in parts of their former habitat.

The AWC said the five teenagers at Mallee Cliffs were believed to be the great-great-grandchildren of a group of loons reintroduced to the national park in 2020.

“It was a surreal feeling to see four siblings in one place,” AWC land management officer Michael Daddow said.

“They were wandering around, falling asleep, and playing with each other. The bravest ones even ran up to me and checked on me before coming back; they weren’t afraid at all.”

Two other babies were observed running around logs at the Scotia wildlife sanctuary in Barkindji Country, where the species was reintroduced in the late 1990s. The AWC said this observation, and other recent sightings of prickles at that refuge, gave conservation workers optimism that the population was recovering following the decline triggered by the 2018-19 drought in the lower Murray-Darling region.