Forgotten marsupial bounces back in SA
The red-tailed phascogale, one of Australia’s lesser-known, carnivorous native marsupials has been successfully reintroduced to arid areas of South Australia.
Until recently, Red-tailed phascogales, also known as wambengers or mousesacks, were only found in the wild in the southwest woodlands of Western Australia and have not been recorded in the wild in South Australia for many years.
Forty-five Red-tailed phascogales were reintroduced into the Gawler Ranges National Park on the northern Eyre Peninsula in May and since then 30 young phascogales were born into the wild for the first time this winter.
Another 40 phascogales from Alice Springs Desert Park and Cleland Wildlife Park’s captive breeding programs will be released in November 2024 and April 2025.
The Red-tailed phascogale is a small, insectivorous marsupial with a distinctive reddish-brown tail. They are a feisty and tenacious small predator with a taste for mice, insects, birds and reptiles and live largely in trees, particularly mallee and black oak woodlands.
The released phascogales are now having to stand on their own four feet in a ‘safe haven’, an unfenced but predator-reduced wilderness and so far, they are faring well.
As with many small mammals, habitat loss and predation by foxes and cats brought the phascogale to the brink of extinction. Since European colonisation it is estimated that 73 species – 41 plants and 32 animals – have become extinct in our state.
However, thanks to the combined efforts of the Department for Environment and Water (DEW) and the Foundation for Australia’s Most Endangered Species (FAME), the future for this precious marsupial is looking up.
The multi-faceted project involves scientific research, captive breeding programs at Cleland Wildlife Park and Alice Springs Desert Park, large-scale feral predator control and radio tracking of the reintroduced phascogales.
Cleland’s phascogale captive breeding program has gone from strength to strength, with the successful 2024 breeding season producing another 50 young, many of which will be released in the Gawler Ranges in November.
FAME CEO Tracy McNamara said the results achieved speak volumes about the value of commitment, determination and persistence.
“The importance of private/public partnerships in nature positive conservation and the collaboration that comes with it, drives success,” Mrs McNamara said.
“After years of determined effort, the Western Quoll, the Brushtailed Possum and now the Phascogale are thriving in those northern areas of SA and extinction has now been headed off. This program is a wonderful example of what can be achieved by committed, capable and like-minded partners.
A key element to DEW’s 30-year Bounceback project is managing threats to species such as reducing fox and cat numbers and managing goat numbers.
This has enabled the project, through the funding partnership with FAME, to reintroduce species such as Western quolls and Brush-tailed possums into Ikara-Flinders Ranges National Park and Vulkathunha National Park with great success.
