Overview
- Conservation teams released about 100 eastern barred bandicoots on Phillip Island in a soft launch to habitat with no foxes or feral cats.
- Scientists increased the animals’ fitness by mixing long-separated mainland and Tasmanian lineages to restore genetic diversity.
- Amazon’s Right Now Climate Fund supported the effort with a AU$2.5 million donation that helped fund breeding and translocations.
- The program aims to establish at least five separate populations with a target of about 500 animals across those sites.
- Bandicoots act as ecosystem engineers by turning over roughly three tonnes of soil per animal each year, which improves soil health and seed growth.