tag:theconversation.com,2011:/uk/topics/marsupials-902/articlesMarsupials – The Conversation2024-02-13T19:08:16Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2231822024-02-13T19:08:16Z2024-02-13T19:08:16ZNew logging rules in NSW put the greater glider closer to extinction. When will we start protecting these amazing animals?<p>Forty years ago when my colleagues and I did spotlighting surveys, the southern greater glider was the most common animal we’d see. Now, this amazing species is endangered. In many areas it is hard to find; in others it has been lost altogether.</p>
<p>Australia has a <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg7870">disproportionately large</a> number of in-danger species, and their decline follows a well-trodden path. Common species become uncommon, then uncommon species become rare. Rare species become threatened or endangered. Then tragically, endangered species go extinct. </p>
<p>Australia leads the world in native mammal extinctions – roughly 10% have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1417301112">become extinct</a> since British invasion. The southern greater glider is heading towards this fate.</p>
<p>That’s why ecologists were shocked by a recent announcement by New South Wales environment authorities that we believe loosens protections for southern greater gliders in logging areas. </p>
<h2>A marsupial to cherish</h2>
<p>The southern greater glider is an iconic marsupial. It’s one of three species of greater gliders found in eastern Australia. It was <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/biodiversity/threatened/species/pubs/254-conservation-advice-05072022.pdf">listed</a> as vulnerable to extinction under national environment law in 2016, then <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/05/greater-glider-now-endangered-as-logging-bushfires-and-global-heating-hit-numbers">uplisted</a> to endangered in 2022.</p>
<p>Greater gliders are amazing animals. Their diet is low on nutrients, comprised almost entirely of eucalypt leaves and buds. Yet they are the world’s largest gliding marsupial, weighing up to 1.3 kg and capable of gliding up to 100m through a forest. </p>
<p>Southern greater gliders have white bellies and thick back fur that ranges from pure white to jet black.</p>
<p>The species is highly dependent on forest habitat and, in particular, large trees with hollows where they shelter and breed. But sadly, <a href="https://www.environment.vic.gov.au/conserving-threatened-species/threatened-species-fact-sheets/greater-glider">extensive glider habitat</a> has been burnt, logged or both. Climate change poses a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2011.02.022">further</a> risk. </p>
<p>We have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2011.02.022">long been concerned</a> for the southern greater glider. In the wet forests of Victoria, for example, their numbers have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12634">declined</a> by 80% since 1997. In 2007, the species became <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biocon.2018.03.007">regionally extinct</a> at Booderee National Park, south of Sydney.</p>
<p>When the southern greater glider was upgraded to endangered, Federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/05/greater-glider-now-endangered-as-logging-bushfires-and-global-heating-hit-numbers">said</a> the new listing would “ensure prioritisation of recovery actions to protect this iconic species”. She noted that habitat protection and land clearing were “primarily the responsibility of state governments”.</p>
<p>You might think, then, that state governments would now be working harder to protect greater glider habitat. But a recent decision in NSW suggests little has changed.</p>
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<h2>What the changes mean</h2>
<p>The NSW Environment Protection Authority this month <a href="https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/news/media-releases/2024/epamedia240202-new-protections-for-endangered-southern-greater-gliders">announced</a> changes to rules in logging operations. It claims the amendments constitute “new protections” for greater gliders. But many ecologists, us included, believe the changes are designed to make logging easier and will leave the species at greater risk.</p>
<p>At present, Forestry Corporation staff undertake pre-logging habitat searches for trees that might contain hollows. They must retain eight of these trees per hectare but can log right up to the tree base. The staff must also look for den trees (where an animal is actually seen entering or leaving a tree hollow) – although this is problematic as gliders are active at night and the surveys take place during the day. If a den tree is found, it must be protected and a 50m area around it retained.</p>
<p>Under the proposed new rules, Forestry Corporation will have to keep more large hollow-bearing trees per hectare – 14 instead of the current eight in high-density glider areas, and 12 instead of the current eight in low-density areas. A 50m exclusion zone will remain around known recorded locations of greater glider dens, but there will no longer be a requirement to specifically find or protect den trees. </p>
<p>This means actual habitat where greater gliders currently occur, and occupy den trees, may not be protected. We believe this will increase the gliders’ rate of decline and fast-track it towards extinction. </p>
<p>The new rules were due to begin on February 9, but were <a href="https://www.epa.nsw.gov.au/news/media-releases/2024/epamedia240209-forestry-protocol">postponed</a> by a week. In a statement, the authority said it was “consulting with stakeholders and considering their feedback to ensure we find the most appropriate way to address concerns while achieving long-term protections for this endangered species”.</p>
<p>If the authority is serious about protecting greater gliders, it will move to strengthen not weaken protections for greater glider habitat.</p>
<h2>Logging glider habitat is nonsensical</h2>
<p>Since the southern greater glider was listed as vulnerable in 2016, its habitat continued to be <a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-failed-greater-gliders-since-they-were-listed-as-vulnerable-weve-destroyed-more-of-their-habitat-164872">destroyed</a>. This is poor management for many reasons:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>gliders often <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/3041">die on site</a> when their habitat is disturbed</p></li>
<li><p>young forests recovering after disturbances tend to be <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2022.120101">hotter and drier</a>, which is bad for gliders because they are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00683223">heat-sensitive</a> </p></li>
<li><p>removing <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2017.02.014">hollow-bearing trees</a> not only destroys a key part of glider habitat immediately, but it can take decades (if not centuries) for forest to become suitable again </p></li>
<li><p>logging makes forests <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/brv.13041">more flammable</a> and gliders are particularly <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/acv.12634">sensitive</a> to fire</p></li>
<li><p>logging can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foreco.2019.117585">change</a> the composition of tree species in a forest, reducing the availability of quality food for gliders. </p></li>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-failed-greater-gliders-since-they-were-listed-as-vulnerable-weve-destroyed-more-of-their-habitat-164872">Australia has failed greater gliders: since they were listed as 'vulnerable' we’ve destroyed more of their habitat</a>
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<h2>The choice is ours</h2>
<p>Human activity has left few remaining refuges for the southern greater glider. Any remaining habitat should be subject to the highest protections.</p>
<p>Logging those refuges is nonsensical given the large body of scientific work demonstrating its negative effects. And tinkering around the edge of logging rules will have limited benefits. </p>
<p>Australia has already lost so many wonderful mammal species. Do we want the southern greater glider to suffer the same fate? If not, let’s stop destroying the forests our species need to survive.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/greater-gliders-are-hurtling-towards-extinction-and-the-blame-lies-squarely-with-australian-governments-186469">Greater gliders are hurtling towards extinction, and the blame lies squarely with Australian governments</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/223182/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Lindenmayer receives funding from the Australian and Victorian Governments and the Australian Research Council. He is a member of the Biodiversity Council and Birdlife Australia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kita Ashman works for WWF Australia and is an Ambassador for Paddy Pallin.</span></em></p>Australia has already lost so many wonderful mammal species. Do we want the southern greater glider to suffer the same fate?David Lindenmayer, Professor, The Fenner School of Environment and Society, Australian National UniversityKita Ashman, Adjunct research associate, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2154542024-02-02T23:11:54Z2024-02-02T23:11:54ZAnimals keep eating precious plants – we used ‘smell misinformation’ to keep them away<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555510/original/file-20231024-29-o85ef8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=143%2C294%2C4476%2C3218&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/swamp-wallaby-eating-some-eucalyptus-leaves-2243439195">Gert-Jan van Stein/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In places where we need to protect valuable plants – whether for ecological or economic reasons – local herbivores can cause significant damage.</p>
<p>Current solutions often involve killing the problem animals. But this is increasingly unacceptable due to animal welfare concerns and social pressures. Physical barriers such as fences can be expensive, and aren’t always practical. We need other options.</p>
<p>Recently, <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27368609/">our team</a> <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2656.12748">discovered</a> that herbivores – plant-eating mammals – primarily use their sense of smell to tell which plants they want to eat or avoid.</p>
<p>In our study <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-024-02330-x">published today in Nature Ecology & Evolution</a>, we show how we can use this reliance on smell to nudge wallabies away from vulnerable native tree seedlings. We artificially created and deployed the key smells of a shrub wallabies avoid. </p>
<h2>Herbivore-induced headaches</h2>
<p>Hungry plant eaters are a concern for conservationists, farmers and foresters alike. They can devastate revegetation efforts and post-fire recovery, <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1442-9993.2004.01374.x">destroying more than half the seedlings</a> in these areas.</p>
<p>Every year, they cause <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/brv.12587">billions of dollars of damage</a> in forestry and agriculture. Herbivores also pose a risk to the long-term survival of many threatened plant species.</p>
<p>The most effective control strategies will likely <a href="https://www.cell.com/trends/ecology-evolution/fulltext/S0169-5347(16)30152-5">work with a herbivore’s natural motivations</a> – understanding and harnessing what drives the animal to find or avoid certain plants.</p>
<p>Previously, research had primarily focused on what herbivores were eating, but had never really asked <em>how</em> they find the food in the first place.</p>
<p>Our approach puts a new twist on “olfactory (smell) misinformation” or “chemical camouflage” approaches. In recent studies, these methods have substantially reduced invasive predators eating <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/sciadv.abe4164">threatened bird eggs</a> in New Zealand, and house mice eating agricultural <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-023-01127-3">wheat grain</a> in Australia.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-to-fool-a-mouse-chemical-camouflage-can-hide-crops-and-cut-losses-by-over-60-202042">How to fool a mouse: ‘chemical camouflage’ can hide crops and cut losses by over 60%</a>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555509/original/file-20231024-25-i6una0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A small brown marsupial with dark ears eating spare but tall green grass" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555509/original/file-20231024-25-i6una0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555509/original/file-20231024-25-i6una0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555509/original/file-20231024-25-i6una0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555509/original/file-20231024-25-i6una0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555509/original/file-20231024-25-i6una0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555509/original/file-20231024-25-i6una0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555509/original/file-20231024-25-i6una0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A swamp wallaby munching on some grass. Like other plant-eating mammals, they use their sense of smell to find delicious plants.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/swamp-wallaby-wallabia-bicolor-eating-grass-2336437925">Joshua Prieto/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>A landscape of smells</h2>
<p>In navigating <a href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/72/8/745/6618787">a scent landscape</a>, herbivores use odour to recognise and select among plants and plant patches. Odour is key in guiding the foraging of <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00442-016-3678-2">marsupials in Australia</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0003347218301258">elephants in Africa</a> and <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/10.1073/pnas.1818284116">Asia</a>, and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/j.1600-0706.2011.19515.x">deer in the United States</a>.</p>
<p>With this in mind, we explored whether the smell of a plant they don’t like could be enough to nudge animals away from highly palatable native tree seedlings.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553860/original/file-20231015-25-ot7z6b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Image of a deer surrounded by green and red 'bubbles' of things represented by smell" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553860/original/file-20231015-25-ot7z6b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553860/original/file-20231015-25-ot7z6b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553860/original/file-20231015-25-ot7z6b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553860/original/file-20231015-25-ot7z6b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553860/original/file-20231015-25-ot7z6b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553860/original/file-20231015-25-ot7z6b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553860/original/file-20231015-25-ot7z6b.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Mammalian herbivores use their noses to navigate complex smell landscapes where odour is emitted from food, predators, competitors and potential mates.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://academic.oup.com/bioscience/article/72/8/745/6618787">Finnerty et al., BioScience, 2022</a></span>
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<p>To test this idea, we focused on swamp wallabies foraging in a eucalypt woodland in eastern Australia. <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/emr.12437">Studies have shown</a> having too many swamp wallabies around can limit the number of eucalypt seedlings that survive to become trees. Swamp wallabies also have a fantastic sense of smell – they can find just <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2656.12748">a few eucalypt leaves buried underground</a> among complex vegetation. </p>
<p>Using an approach <a href="https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/nph.18432">we recently developed</a>, we found the key scent compounds of a plant we know wallabies avoid – the native shrub <em>Boronia pinnata</em>.</p>
<p>We then mixed these compounds together to create “informative virtual neighbours”. They were “informative” as our mix of compounds mimicked what a wallaby would recognise as <em>Boronia pinnata</em>, “virtual” as we were not actually deploying the real shrub, and “neighbours” as we placed these smells in the bush next to eucalypt seedlings we were trying to protect.</p>
<p>In our study, a virtual neighbour was a small glass vial with a few millilitres of the mixture, with a tube pierced through the lid so the smell could waft out.</p>
<p>Using odours instead of real plants is a type of <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/fee.2534">olfactory misinformation</a> – it sends a deceptive message to the animals. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553872/original/file-20231015-21-f0ar90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A side by side photo of a glass bottle with a tube sticking out and a black plastic cup on leaf litter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553872/original/file-20231015-21-f0ar90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553872/original/file-20231015-21-f0ar90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553872/original/file-20231015-21-f0ar90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553872/original/file-20231015-21-f0ar90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553872/original/file-20231015-21-f0ar90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553872/original/file-20231015-21-f0ar90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/553872/original/file-20231015-21-f0ar90.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=515&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">We deployed the virtual neighbour vials in custom-built contraptions that secured vials to the ground and provided protection from the weather.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Finnerty et al., Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2024</span></span>
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<h2>Real and virtual neighbours</h2>
<p>We also compared if virtual neighbours were as good as the real thing in protecting eucalypt seedlings from being eaten by wallabies.</p>
<p>Five virtual neighbour vials or real <em>Boronia pinnata</em> plants were spaced evenly around single eucalypt seedlings the wallabies would find highly palatable. (We also had two types of controls: a seedling with nothing around it, and a seedling surrounded by five empty vials.)</p>
<p>Using remote cameras for 40 days, we recorded how long it took wallabies to find and munch on the eucalypt seedlings.</p>
<p>The results were staggering. Seedlings were 20 times less likely to be eaten when surrounded by virtual neighbours than for both controls. This was equivalent to using real <em>B. pinnata</em> plants, but better because vials don’t compete with seedlings for water and other resources.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572623/original/file-20240131-27-wkm6rq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572623/original/file-20240131-27-wkm6rq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/572623/original/file-20240131-27-wkm6rq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572623/original/file-20240131-27-wkm6rq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572623/original/file-20240131-27-wkm6rq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572623/original/file-20240131-27-wkm6rq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572623/original/file-20240131-27-wkm6rq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/572623/original/file-20240131-27-wkm6rq.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A single eucalypt seedling surrounded by five virtual neighbours (a) and five real plant neighbours (b).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Finnerty et al., Nature Ecology & Evolution, 2024</span></span>
</figcaption>
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<h2>A highly effective approach</h2>
<p>The success of our study indicates we could use this approach as a new management tool – one that works by influencing the animals’ behaviour rather than trying to get rid of them.</p>
<p>We believe the concept behind developing virtual neighbours is directly transferable to any herbivore, mammal or otherwise, that uses plant odour to forage.</p>
<p>All herbivores avoid some plant species. With future development, we can deploy smelly virtual neighbours as a non-deadly and cost-effective tool to reduce the problems caused by overzealous herbivores.</p>
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<p><em>We acknowledge all other co-authors who contributed to this work: Catherine Price, Malcolm Possell and Cristian Gabriel Orlando from the University of Sydney, and Adrian Shrader from the University of Pretoria. We thank Paul Finnerty for assistance in designing and constructing virtual neighbour holders.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215454/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Patrick Finnerty received funding for this work from the Royal Zoological Society of New South Wales, the Ecological Society of Australia, the Australian Academy of Science, NSW Dept of Planning and Environment, the Australian Wildlife Society, and the Australian Research Council.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Clare McArthur receives funding from the Australian Research Council, NSW Environmental Trust and NSW Department of Planning and Environment. She is a member of the Ecological Society of Australia, the Australian Mammal Society and the Australasian Wildlife Management Society.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Banks receives funding from the Australian Research Council, NSW Environmental Trust and NSW Department of Planning and Environment, Hermon Slade Foundation and Manaaki Whenua.</span></em></p>Each year, hungry plant-eating animals do billions of dollars of damage to valuable plants. We need prevention methods that don’t involve killing them.Patrick Finnerty, PhD candidate - Behavioural Ecology and Conservation Research, University of SydneyClare McArthur, Professor of Behavioural Ecology, University of SydneyPeter Banks, Professor of Conservation Biology, School of Life and Environmental Sciences, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2210092024-01-17T23:33:35Z2024-01-17T23:33:35ZThese fierce, tiny marsupials drop dead after lengthy sex fests – and sometimes become cannibals<p>If you are exploring our beautiful Australian wilderness this year, keep an eye out for animals behaving in interesting ways. You never know what you might see, as our research team discovered.</p>
<p>In 2023, our colleague from Sunshine Coast Council, Elliot Bowerman, took a two-night trip to <a href="https://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/visit-a-park/parks/new-england-national-park">New England National Park</a> – its 1,500 metre-high mountain peaks are some of the loftiest on Australia’s mid-east coast.</p>
<p>On the afternoon of 17 August, Elliot trekked the path to Point Lookout. While inspecting some plants on the trail, he heard a rustle in the bushes ahead and peering more closely, saw something of interest. A small mammal had abruptly appeared, dragging the carcass of another mammal, which it then began to devour.</p>
<p>At first glance, this was not so strange. Mammals eat each other all the time. However, it <em>is</em> unusual to see small mammals during the day at such close quarters, so Elliot recorded the scene, taking a video on his mobile phone.</p>
<p>It was only several days later when looking over the footage that our research team realised it featured something rarely seen in the wild, the record of which is now published <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/AM23042">in the journal <em>Australian Mammalogy</em></a>.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-5-of-australias-tiniest-mammals-who-tread-a-tightrope-between-life-and-death-every-night-159239">Meet 5 of Australia’s tiniest mammals, who tread a tightrope between life and death every night</a>
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<h2>A native marsupial… cannibal</h2>
<p>The furry critter on film was an <a href="https://animalia.bio/dusky-antechinus">antechinus</a>, a native marsupial denizen of forested areas in eastern, south-western and northern Australia. Antechinuses usually eat a range of insects and spiders, occasionally taking small vertebrates such as birds, lizards, or even other mammals. </p>
<p>But this <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dd1nlIdIsK8">camera footage</a> clearly showed a mainland dusky antechinus (<em>Antechinus mimetes mimetes</em>), and it was eating a dead member of its own species!</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dd1nlIdIsK8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>Antechinuses are perhaps best known for exhibiting <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/death-and-mating/">semelparity</a>, or “suicidal reproduction”. This is death after reproducing in a single breeding period. The phenomenon is known in a range of plants, invertebrates and vertebrates, but it is rare in mammals. </p>
<p>Each year, all antechinus males drop dead at the end of a one to three week breeding season, poisoned by their own raging hormones.</p>
<p>This is because the stress hormone cortisol rises during the breeding period. At the same time, surging testosterone from the super-sized testes in males causes a failure in the biological mechanism that mops up the cortisol. The flood of unbound cortisol results in systemic organ failure and the inevitable, <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00360-007-0250-8">gruesome death of every male</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569221/original/file-20240115-15-2bu24v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A dark grey marsupial with a pointy snout tearing at pink flesh" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569221/original/file-20240115-15-2bu24v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569221/original/file-20240115-15-2bu24v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569221/original/file-20240115-15-2bu24v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569221/original/file-20240115-15-2bu24v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=747&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569221/original/file-20240115-15-2bu24v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569221/original/file-20240115-15-2bu24v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569221/original/file-20240115-15-2bu24v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=939&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A mainland dusky antechinus during the mating period, with fur loss visible on the shoulder, eating another antechinus.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Elliot Bowerman</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mercifully, death occurs only after the males have unloaded their precious cargo of sperm, <a href="https://theconversation.com/doing-it-to-death-suicidal-sex-in-marsupial-mice-18884">mating with as many promiscuous females</a> as possible in marathon, energy-sapping sessions lasting up to 14 hours. The pregnant females are then responsible for ensuring the survival of the species.</p>
<p>So, exactly what was happening that day at Point Lookout – why had an antechinus turned cannibal? </p>
<h2>Cheap calories</h2>
<p>August is the breeding period for mainland dusky antechinuses at that location. Intense mating burns calories, and at the end of winter it is cold and there isn’t as much invertebrate food about.</p>
<p>If there are male antechinuses dropping dead from sex-fuelled exhaustion, our thinking is that still-living male and female antechinuses are taking advantage of the cheap energy boost via a hearty feast of a fallen comrade.</p>
<p>After all, animal flesh provides plenty of energetic bang for the buck, particularly if its owner does not have to be pursued or overpowered before being devoured.</p>
<p>In many areas of Australia, two antechinus species (of the known fifteen) occur together, and usually their breeding periods <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1095-8312.2006.00571.x">are separated by only a few weeks</a>. One can imagine a scenario where individuals may not only feed on the carcasses of their own species but consume the other species as well.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569229/original/file-20240115-15-pri0fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569229/original/file-20240115-15-pri0fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/569229/original/file-20240115-15-pri0fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569229/original/file-20240115-15-pri0fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569229/original/file-20240115-15-pri0fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=567&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569229/original/file-20240115-15-pri0fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569229/original/file-20240115-15-pri0fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/569229/original/file-20240115-15-pri0fh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=713&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An endangered silver-headed antechinus, <em>Antechinus argentus</em>.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew Baker</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Each species may benefit from eating the dead males of the other. For the earlier-breeding species, females may be pregnant or lactating, which is a huge energy drain.</p>
<p>For the later-breeding species, both sexes need to pack on weight and body condition before their own breeding period commences. </p>
<p>Plausibly then, antechinus engage in orgiastic breeding and, when opportune, cannibalistic feeding. </p>
<p>So, the next time you are out and about in the bush, keep your eyes and ears peeled – you never know what secrets nature might reveal to you just around the next corner.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The author would like to acknowledge the co-authors of the paper, Elliot Bowerman from Sunshine Coast Council, and Ian Gynther from the Queensland Department of Environment, Science and Innovation.</em></p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/torpor-a-neat-survival-trick-once-thought-rare-in-australian-animals-is-actually-widespread-146409">Torpor: a neat survival trick once thought rare in Australian animals is actually widespread</a>
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</em>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/221009/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew M. Baker receives funding from the Federal Government, State Governments, Australian Biological Resources Study and various Industry sources. </span></em></p>Antechinuses are tiny marsupials famous for their intense sex lives. Now, researchers have documented another unusual behaviour – the cannibalism of their own species.Andrew M. Baker, Associate Professor in Ecology and Environmental Science, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2179252023-12-27T20:26:29Z2023-12-27T20:26:29ZI collect marsupial poo. A crack team of volunteers across Australia helps me out<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559861/original/file-20231116-15-5v6vpr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C328%2C1484%2C1248&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Tracy Dodd</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>I thought convincing my husband of the merits of my returning to study just as he had retired would be a very tricky sell. So his enthusiasm for the idea caught me by surprise.</p>
<p>He helpfully suggested several interesting topics: sea turtles, dugongs and coral reefs. If it involved a boat in a warm climate, he was behind me 100%.</p>
<p>But if you are going to dedicate three and a half years to studying a single topic, it really needs to excite you, and my interest in gut bacteria and health won out. Much to my hubby’s dismay, I chose to immerse myself in the subject of marsupial poo – and in retaliation he started calling me Dr Poo.</p>
<p>Fortunately, I am not alone in my faecal fetish. As any wildlife carer can tell you, monitoring what comes out of an animal is a vital part of keeping an eye on its health. </p>
<p>So when I set out to find volunteers to collect poo from wild and captive marsupials – specifically eastern grey kangaroos, swamp wallabies, red-necked wallabies, bare-nosed wombats, and ringtail and brushtail possums – over an area from Queensland to Tasmania, it was mainly wildlife carers who answered the call. </p>
<h2>The Marsupial Microbiome Poop Troop</h2>
<p>I enlisted a core group of around 20 people who, every season, dutifully went out in all weathers, armed with their forceps and zip-lock bags, to select fresh pellets from their in-care residents or wild animals that passed through. Then they filled in the paperwork, carefully labelled the bags and stored them in freezers until they could be posted in special temperature-controlled packaging to the university for genetic analysis. </p>
<p>We did this to establish a baseline of what the normal wild gut microbiome looks like in different animals in different areas at different times of the year. This lets us recognise if there is an imbalance in captive animals that can be addressed and prevented by changing diet or introducing supplements.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559862/original/file-20231116-17-i3bmax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo of marsupial droppings in a yellow cloth." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559862/original/file-20231116-17-i3bmax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/559862/original/file-20231116-17-i3bmax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559862/original/file-20231116-17-i3bmax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559862/original/file-20231116-17-i3bmax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559862/original/file-20231116-17-i3bmax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559862/original/file-20231116-17-i3bmax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/559862/original/file-20231116-17-i3bmax.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A collection of precious kangaroo poo.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Diane Lane</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>To aid my communication with these wonderful volunteers, I started a Facebook group page which became known as the Marsupial Microbiome Poop Troop. And it has some colourful members.</p>
<p>There is Kate, who obtains the freshest wombat poo by stalking wild wombats in her local reserve until they produce the goods. Don’t try this at home. Kate has serious wombat-whisperer skills. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-can-you-learn-from-studying-an-animals-scat-126307">What can you learn from studying an animal's scat?</a>
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<p>There’s Darryl, who was devastated when the roof blew off his house in a storm and he was without power for two weeks. Not for his wrecked house or loss of possessions, but because his collection of possum poo thawed and he had to throw it away and start again.</p>
<p>Julie wins the prize for most prolific collector. Her poo parcels are the largest by far, and cover quite a few species. The supervisor of the university’s stores, who receives the poo parcels, is not always a fan of Julie’s efforts. He must have highly attuned olfactory senses as he routinely sends me emails announcing the arrival of more “animal excrement” or “malodorous packages” for immediate collection.</p>
<h2>Saving orphaned joeys</h2>
<p>While it all sounds like fun and games, the research we do with the collected poo has serious potential to save many marsupial lives. We have a particular focus on young orphaned joeys. </p>
<p>Whether their mothers were hit by cars, attacked by dogs, or died of other causes, the joeys arrive at wildlife shelters stressed, often injured, and generally cold and hungry. Because marsupials are born so undeveloped – and normally spend a long time in their mother’s pouch – they require an extended period in care when orphaned. </p>
<p>The gut microbiome of these “pinky” joeys is equivalent in development to that of premature human babies. It is still being established at this crucial time, via the mother’s milk, environmental conditions in the pouch, cleaning and grooming. </p>
<p>The sudden loss of parental care, coupled with the stress of being in captivity and a complete change of diet, can do a great deal of harm to the gut microbiota. This can leave the joey open to infections, diarrhoea and dehydration, which can be fatal. </p>
<p>If it were possible to fix this imbalance, the success rate of rearing orphaned marsupials would rise. Their improved general health should mean greater numbers of animals successfully reintroduced to the wild.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/from-the-frontline-saving-australias-threatened-mammals-28337">From the frontline: saving Australia's threatened mammals</a>
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</em>
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<p>While the animals involved in this study are considered “common”, the same principles may be applied to endangered species held in captive breeding programmes once it has been shown to work on the more prolific species.</p>
<p>Without the help of the Poop Troop volunteers, it would have been impossible to sample so widely and consistently. The remaining poo will be kept frozen and made available to future researchers, so these wonderful people have, through their dedication and persistence, made a real contribution to marsupial microbiome research that will continue to help wildlife in the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217925/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Angela Russell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The Marsupial Microbiome Poop Troop collects the droppings of wild marsupials to help save the lives of orphaned joeys.Angela Russell, Graduate researcher PhD candidate, La Trobe UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2163512023-10-29T19:11:42Z2023-10-29T19:11:42ZWe discovered three new species of marsupial. Unfortunately, they’re already extinct<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555979/original/file-20231026-21-r47n91.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=4%2C1%2C994%2C664&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Crest-tailed mulgara (_Dasycercus cristicauda_) from the Simpson Desert, Queensland.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Crest-tail_Mulgara.jpg">Bobby Tamayo / Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Australia is famous for its diverse and unique marsupials, and infamous for its <a href="https://theconversation.com/gut-wrenching-and-infuriating-why-australia-is-the-world-leader-in-mammal-extinctions-and-what-to-do-about-it-192173">world-leading rate of mammal extinctions</a>.</p>
<p>In our latest research, we have added new names to the list of Australian marsupials – and at the same time, new entries to the grim catalogue of species driven to extinction since European colonisation.</p>
<p>Our new study, published in <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03115518.2023.2262083">Alcheringa</a>, has identified three previously unknown species of small carnivores called mulgaras, which live in the dry country of Australia’s west and north. </p>
<p>The species were “hiding” in museums, among specimens collected since the 19th century, and none of them survive today.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1513329781395574784"}"></div></p>
<h2>A deeper look at mulgaras</h2>
<p><a href="https://australian.museum/learn/animals/mammals/mulgara/">Mulgaras</a> (<em>Dasycercus</em>) are small, ferocious carnivorous marsupials that are so well adapted to their arid habitats that they <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/bi/pdf/bi9620683">do not need to drink water</a>. They play important roles in maintaining the health of their environments by controlling populations of insects and small rodents, and turning over desert soils through foraging. </p>
<p>Until recently, it was thought there were only two species of mulgara, the brush-tailed mulgara (<em>D. blythi</em>) and the crest-tailed mulgara (<em>D. cristicauda</em>). </p>
<p>Earlier efforts to classify mulgaras focused on external differences, such as the hair on their tail or the number of nipples. Our new work looked deeper, through an analysis of skulls and teeth.</p>
<p>Mammals use their teeth for many things, most obviously as offensive or defensive weapons, for eating, and for manipulating the environment. If the shape of a species’ teeth changes in some way, this could indicate an adaptation to a change in diet or environment. With enough adaptions and changes, a new species emerges.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-is-biological-classification-10691">Explainer: what is biological classification? </a>
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</em>
</p>
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<p>In our investigation, we examined “<a href="https://www.samuseum.sa.gov.au/subfossils">subfossils</a>” – skeletal remains that are not old enough to be true fossils – from sites around Australia where mulgaras are no longer found. </p>
<p>We trawled through animal trapping and subfossil collections made since the 19th century in museums across every mainland state and territory in Australia, and even the Natural History Museum of London. Subfossil specimens from the Nullarbor Plain, the Great Victoria Desert, and the northern Swan Coastal Plain were of particular interest as they had not been attributed to a particular species until now. </p>
<p>We also mounted an expedition to <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-nullarbors-rich-cultural-history-vast-cave-systems-and-unique-animals-all-deserve-better-protection-212262">the caves of the Nullarbor Plain</a> to collect additional mulgara skulls. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A photo of a man wearing a helmet with a torch, crouching in a dark cave and inspecting the ground." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555968/original/file-20231026-28-qkd5sp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555968/original/file-20231026-28-qkd5sp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555968/original/file-20231026-28-qkd5sp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555968/original/file-20231026-28-qkd5sp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555968/original/file-20231026-28-qkd5sp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555968/original/file-20231026-28-qkd5sp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555968/original/file-20231026-28-qkd5sp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Jake Newman-Martin collecting subfossils in a Nullarbor cave.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kenny Travouillon</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Not one, two or three species, but six</h2>
<p>Once we had assembled our collection, we measured the skulls and teeth of the mulgaras to find differences in their overall shape and size. The particular diets and habitats of particular species are expected to leave distinct patterns in their skulls and teeth.</p>
<p>We found differences in the skulls and teeth of mulgaras that completely revised our understanding of their diversity and recent history. Our most remarkable discoveries were found in subfossil deposits that had previously not been classified.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555971/original/file-20231026-17-v5txix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Skulls of the six identified species are shown from above, the side and below" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555971/original/file-20231026-17-v5txix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555971/original/file-20231026-17-v5txix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555971/original/file-20231026-17-v5txix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555971/original/file-20231026-17-v5txix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555971/original/file-20231026-17-v5txix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=711&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555971/original/file-20231026-17-v5txix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=711&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555971/original/file-20231026-17-v5txix.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=711&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Skulls of each of the mulgara species identified; A - <em>D. hillieri</em>, B - <em>D. woolleyae</em>, C - <em>D. blythi</em>, D - <em>D. archeri</em>, E - <em>D. cristicauda</em>, and F - <em>D. marlowi</em>. Specimens are shown in dorsal (top row), ventral (middle row), and lateral (bottom row) views. All specimens shown are male.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03115518.2023.2262083">Newman-Martin et al. / Alcheringa</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Previously, researchers disagreed about whether there are one, two, or even three species of mulgara. We found a total of <em>six</em> species, living in different habitats across central and western Australia. Two of these were already accepted to exist, another had been proposed in the past but dismissed, and three were entirely new. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555972/original/file-20231026-32800-166yms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A map of Australia dotted with locations across the west and north where different specimens were found." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555972/original/file-20231026-32800-166yms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555972/original/file-20231026-32800-166yms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555972/original/file-20231026-32800-166yms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555972/original/file-20231026-32800-166yms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555972/original/file-20231026-32800-166yms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555972/original/file-20231026-32800-166yms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555972/original/file-20231026-32800-166yms.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Map of the geographic distribution of mulgara specimens examined in this study.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03115518.2023.2262083">Newman-Martin et al. / Alcheringa</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We also found that some of the external features previously proposed for identifying species of mulgara were actually shared by multiple species. </p>
<p>For instance, the brush-tailed mulgara (<em>D. blythi</em>) and the crest-tailed mulgara (<em>D. cristicauda</em>) were separated based on the shape of the hairs on the end of their tails. However, it now seems that four of the six mulgara species have crested tails, while the other two have brush tails.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Photos showing preserved pelts of five of the examined mulgara species." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555976/original/file-20231026-21-8b1udg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/555976/original/file-20231026-21-8b1udg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555976/original/file-20231026-21-8b1udg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555976/original/file-20231026-21-8b1udg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=317&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555976/original/file-20231026-21-8b1udg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555976/original/file-20231026-21-8b1udg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/555976/original/file-20231026-21-8b1udg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Dorsal views of the preserved skins of five of the examined mulgara species. A - <em>D. hillieri</em>, B - <em>D. archeri</em>, C - <em>D. woolleyae</em>, D - <em>D. blythi</em>, and E - <em>D. marlowi</em>.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03115518.2023.2262083">Newman-Martin et al. / Alcheringa</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Just as you cannot judge a book by its cover, you cannot judge the importance of a mulgara by its size, or its taxonomy by its tail!</p>
<h2>Four modern extinctions</h2>
<p>Our research is not all good news. Of the six mulgara species, we determined that four are already extinct, likely as a result of the introduction of foxes and cats to Australia. </p>
<p>The extinction of these mulgara species may represent the first extinction in modern Australia within the broader family of Dasyurid marsupials, which also includes quolls and Tasmanian devils.</p>
<p>These newly identified mulgara disappeared with even less recognition than the now infamous extinction of their marsupial relative the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/extinct-but-not-gone-the-thylacine-continues-to-fascinate-us-201865">Extinct but not gone – the thylacine continues to fascinate us</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>These historical extinctions and lack of awareness exemplify the current ecological crisis facing Australian mammals.</p>
<p>Prior to our research, it was known that mulgaras are threatened and their population and distribution across Australia has decreased. </p>
<p>Our research shows these declines are far greater than we thought. It also shows the importance of using subfossil records to understand the relatively recent history of marsupials for conservation. To protect Australia’s ecosystems, we will need to invest in much broader taxonomic understanding.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-good-the-bad-and-the-ugly-research-funding-flows-to-big-and-beautiful-mammals-in-australia-56143">The good, the bad and the ugly: research funding flows to big and beautiful mammals in Australia</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216351/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Milo Barham receives funding from the Minerals Research Institute of Western Australia. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alison Blyth, Jake Newman-Martin, Kenny Travouillon, and Natalie Warburton do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>We found three previously unknown species of mulgaras hiding in museum collections – but all three have been driven to extinction since European colonisation of Australia.Jake Newman-Martin, PhD candidate, Curtin UniversityAlison Blyth, Senior Lecturer, Curtin UniversityKenny Travouillon, Curator of Mammals, Western Australian MuseumMilo Barham, Associate Professor, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Curtin UniversityNatalie Warburton, Associate Professor in Anatomy, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2157132023-10-23T19:07:17Z2023-10-23T19:07:17Z2 biggest threats to wombats revealed in new data gathered by citizen scientists<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554914/original/file-20231020-29-trtuo9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=603%2C0%2C2951%2C2263&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/hello-human-being-1211705848">Sonijya/Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Launched in 2015, <a href="https://www.womsat.org.au/womsat/default.aspx">WomSAT</a> (Wombat Survey and Analysis Tool) is a citizen science project and website that allows “wombat warriors” to report sightings of wombats, their burrows, and even <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-wombats-do-cube-shaped-poo-55975">their cube-shaped poops</a>.</p>
<p>The project initially aimed to uncover information on all things wombat from across Australia, particularly threats. Its ultimate aim is to support conservation, informed by an enhanced understanding of wombat biology. </p>
<p>WomSAT also aims to educate the wider community by using the hashtag #WombatWednesday to spread the word. The project has resulted in raising the profile of wombats in the broader community.</p>
<p>People have jumped onboard to support the charismatic species, and thousands of posts have been shared via social media.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1694182680009506985"}"></div></p>
<p>To date, citizen scientists across Australia have reported more than 23,000 wombat sightings to WomSAT. These sightings have recently been analysed and the findings published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/AM22001">Australian Mammalogy</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1749-4877.12776">Integrative Zoology</a>. </p>
<p>Importantly, the data have given us new insights into where to find two of the biggest threats: Australia’s wombat roadkill hotspots, and the worst areas for sarcoptic mange (a disease related to scabies).</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mangy-marsupials-wombats-are-catching-a-deadly-disease-and-we-urgently-need-a-plan-to-help-them-46755">Mangy marsupials: wombats are catching a deadly disease, and we urgently need a plan to help them</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Making our roads safer for wombats</h2>
<p>Wombats are large, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/AM20009">mostly grass-eating</a> native Australian marsupials. They play an essential role in maintaining biodiversity as <a href="https://doi.org/10.7882/AZ.2018.006">ecological engineers</a>. Through their burrowing, they maintain soil health and create habitat to support other plants and animals.</p>
<p>There are three species of wombats: the <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/11343/21959050">critically endangered</a> northern hairy-nosed wombat (<em>Lasiorhinus krefftii</em>), the threatened southern hairy-nosed wombat (<em>L. latifrons</em>), and the bare-nosed or common wombat (<em>Vombatus ursinus</em>).</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554262/original/file-20231017-25-d98twg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A stout grey animal with pointy ears, black beady eyes and a stumpy snout" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554262/original/file-20231017-25-d98twg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554262/original/file-20231017-25-d98twg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554262/original/file-20231017-25-d98twg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554262/original/file-20231017-25-d98twg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=366&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554262/original/file-20231017-25-d98twg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554262/original/file-20231017-25-d98twg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554262/original/file-20231017-25-d98twg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=461&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Northern hairy-nosed wombats are critically endangered.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by Graham and Linda Lee, used with permission from The Wombat Foundation.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Like most Australian native animals, wombats are under threat on many different fronts – habitat destruction, changed fire regimes, competition from introduced species, and even direct persecution by humans, as they are deemed pests by some. The bare-nosed wombat is particularly impacted by roadkill and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1111/tbed.1277">sarcoptic mange</a>. </p>
<p>The new data reported to <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/AM22001">WomSAT have identified roadkill hotspots</a> and factors affecting wombat vehicle collisions.
Several areas were identified as roadkill hotspots, including Old Bega Road and Steeple Flat Road in southern New South Wales. Most wombat roadkill deaths occurred in winter, and sadly most appeared otherwise healthy.</p>
<p>Having better data and identifying these roadkill hotspots will ultimately reduce road risks for people and wombats. We can target these hotspots using mitigation strategies such as reduced speeds, signage and barriers to prevent wombat crossing and avoid collisions.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554427/original/file-20231017-17-x1o8ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A brown stout animal splayed on the grass, a hand marking a fluorescent yellow line on its back" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554427/original/file-20231017-17-x1o8ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554427/original/file-20231017-17-x1o8ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554427/original/file-20231017-17-x1o8ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554427/original/file-20231017-17-x1o8ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554427/original/file-20231017-17-x1o8ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554427/original/file-20231017-17-x1o8ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554427/original/file-20231017-17-x1o8ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=599&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A wombat killed on a road, being marked to indicate its pouch has been checked.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Hayley Stannard</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Mangy marsupials</h2>
<p>WomSAT data have also revealed that wombat populations in closer proximity to urban areas have more wombats with sarcoptic mange. Mange is a disease caused by the <em>Sarcoptes scabiei</em> mite.</p>
<p>In people this mite causes scabies. But in wombats, the disease is fatal if left untreated. The mites cause disease by burrowing into the skin of wombats, causing extreme itchiness and discomfort. Eventually it leads to large open wounds, and the wombat dies from secondary infections.</p>
<p>For sarcoptic mange reports, the season was not statistically significant, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/1749-4877.12776">but rainfall was</a>. This could potentially be because scabies mites thrive in more humid environments, but more research is needed. </p>
<p>Interestingly, our field research has also indicated that rainfall contributes to <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/am/am20001">higher occurrence of sarcoptic mange</a> in specific populations we have monitored over several years.</p>
<p>Overall, roadkill events and sarcoptic mange are two of the biggest threats to bare-nosed wombats. As we continue to track both over time, it will help us to better understand and mitigate these threats.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554422/original/file-20231017-25-ejzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A stout brown animal with wounds across its sides" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554422/original/file-20231017-25-ejzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554422/original/file-20231017-25-ejzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554422/original/file-20231017-25-ejzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554422/original/file-20231017-25-ejzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=428&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554422/original/file-20231017-25-ejzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554422/original/file-20231017-25-ejzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/554422/original/file-20231017-25-ejzl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=538&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A wild wombat affected by sarcoptic mange.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo by John Creighton, used with permission.</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>You can become a wombat warrior too</h2>
<p>Recent upgrades to WomSAT will now allow GPS location data embedded in photos taken using smartphones. Importantly, this means users can upload wombat sightings when they come back into phone signal or internet range. </p>
<p>Users can also now upload information where wombats are <em>not</em> found, which provides important information on wombat distribution and abundance.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1592667149143019521"}"></div></p>
<p>Another new feature on WomSAT will assist wildlife carers to directly monitor and record treatment of wombats with sarcoptic mange in the field. In the past, treatment regimes have rarely been recorded. This will benefit the wider wildlife care network by highlighting areas where wombats are currently being treated, as well as new areas where wombats require treatment.</p>
<p>In the longer term, the resource will also help to support the development of better treatment regimes by recording treatment methods and tracking wombats (through photographs) to help monitor their recovery.</p>
<p>Regardless of the level of experience with wombats, everyone can get involved and become a wombat warrior. You can do so by <a href="https://www.womsat.org.au/womsat/pagecontent.aspx?page=wombat_recordobservations">reporting sightings of wombats</a> and their burrows to the <a href="https://womsat.org.au/womsat/">WomSAT website</a> via a mobile phone or computer.</p>
<p>Ongoing reporting to WomSAT will provide more insights into these amazing marsupials. It can be used to assist with determining wombat distribution and abundance patterns, as well as help manage the threats they face.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215713/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julie Old received funding from Emirates Airlines, Wolgan Valley Resort and Spa and NSW NPWS Curb Mange Grant to establish and upgrade the WomSAT website. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hayley Stannard does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Contributors to the WomSAT website have already reported more than 23,000 wombat sightings. We can use the data to cut the risks to wombats – and anyone with a smartphone can help.Julie Old, Associate Professor, Biology, Zoology, Animal Science, Western Sydney UniversityHayley Stannard, Senior lecturer, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2119922023-08-22T23:13:19Z2023-08-22T23:13:19ZDisease in the dirt: how mange-causing mites decimated a Tasmanian wombat population<p>More than 80% of Australian mammals are found nowhere else in the world. Many of these unique, iconic creatures are under threat.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.science.org/doi/10.1126/science.adg7870">most important and well-known threats</a> are invasive species (such as cats and foxes) and human-driven changes to the environment (such as land clearing and climate change).</p>
<p>Invasive pathogens – parasites, viruses, bacteria, fungi – often attract less attention, but they too can pose a significant threat to native animals. </p>
<p>Take sarcoptic mange, a parasitic disease that <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/tbed.14082">affects mammals around the world</a>. In a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2023.0169">new study</a> published in the journal Biology Letters, we report on a sarcoptic mange outbreak in a population of bare-nosed wombats in central Tasmania, which caused a population decline of more than 80%.</p>
<h2>What is sarcoptic mange, and where did it come from?</h2>
<p>Sarcoptic mange is caused by the parasitic mite <em>Sarcoptes scabiei</em>, which burrows into the skin. These mites are happy to infest many mammals, including humans (in which case the disease is called scabies).</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543885/original/file-20230822-27-5krta1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A microscope image showing a tiny translucent bug." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543885/original/file-20230822-27-5krta1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/543885/original/file-20230822-27-5krta1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543885/original/file-20230822-27-5krta1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543885/original/file-20230822-27-5krta1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=601&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543885/original/file-20230822-27-5krta1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543885/original/file-20230822-27-5krta1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/543885/original/file-20230822-27-5krta1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">A <em>Sarcoptes scabiei</em> mite seen under the microscope.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sarcoptes_scabiei#/media/File:Sarcopte_scabiei_under_a_microscope.jpg">Arthur Goldstein / Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>Research suggests the spread of the mites around the world is associated with European colonialism, although where they originally evolved is uncertain. In Australia, the mites were likely introduced multiple times over the past 230 years. </p>
<p>In southern Australia, sarcoptic mange is mostly a concern for wildlife health. It can be deadly to bare-nosed wombats, as well as some other species including koalas and quenda (also known as western brown bandicoots). In tropical northern Australia, scabies is a significant (although rarely life-threatening) human health issue.</p>
<h2>How does sarcoptic mange spread among solitary wombats?</h2>
<p>In some animals, the mange-causing mites move directly from one animal to another when the animals come into <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/biosci/biab106">direct contact</a>. However, wombats are relatively solitary. It is rare for them to touch one another outside of mating. </p>
<p>Nevertheless, the mites still spread via “environmental transmission”. Wombats change burrows quite frequently, usually staying in one burrow for somewhere between one and nine days before changing.</p>
<p>When a mite-infested wombat stays in a burrow, it leaves some mites behind. Research shows <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2213224421000869">mites can survive</a> in the cool, humid soil of the burrow for between five and 16 days. If another wombat comes along during this period, the mites have found themselves a new host. </p>
<h2>The ratio of wombats to burrows may be the key</h2>
<p>When scientists study how pathogens are transmitted among animals, we often assume it will depend on the population density of the animals in question. At higher densities, individual animals come into contact more often so the pathogen is more likely to spread. And if population density is too low, a pathogen may “die out”.</p>
<p>However, it’s a different story for environmentally transmitted pathogens like <em>S. scabiei</em>. In our research, we found individual wombats continued to be infected and diseased even when population density declined.</p>
<p>Our research suggests the number of burrows per wombat likely influences how often they can encounter mites in the environment.</p>
<p>Because infested burrows are the likely source of the infections, the number of available burrows per wombat should be a more important determinant of whether a population decline from sarcoptic mange occurs. </p>
<h2>How big a problem is sarcoptic mange?</h2>
<p>Our study is the third formally documented decline in a bare-nosed wombat population from a sarcoptic mange outbreak. </p>
<p>Does this mean bare-nosed wombat populations are threatened everywhere by this invasive pathogen – or even worse, at risk of going extinct? This does not appear to be the case. </p>
<p>There is no doubt <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsos.180018">mange causes immense suffering to wombats</a> and is a serious wildlife health issue. However, a combination of factors such as wombat-to-burrow ratios and environmental conditions mean declines appear to be occasional events. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mangy-marsupials-wombats-are-catching-a-deadly-disease-and-we-urgently-need-a-plan-to-help-them-46755">Mangy marsupials: wombats are catching a deadly disease, and we urgently need a plan to help them</a>
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<p>Understanding the spread and effect of the disease is not simple, but a <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0022519318305861?via%3Dihub">growing</a> <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/PC/PC21007">body</a> of <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2656.13960">research</a> is revealing why some wombat populations are free of sarcoptic mange, some have disease but don’t decline, and why occasionally some do decline. </p>
<p>Another finding of our study was a potential indicator of the risk of population decline from sarcoptic mange. When more than 25% of a population show signs of the disease, based on systematic population surveys from multiple studies, it may mean population decline is possible.</p>
<h2>What can be done?</h2>
<p>Can anything be done to help wombats and other wildlife affected by sarcoptic mange? The answer is yes for individual wombats and sub-populations, but not yet for larger scales. </p>
<p>Across southeast Australia a significant number of wildlife carers, rehabilitators, and rescue organisations make important contributions to the welfare of bare-nosed wombats. A small number of researchers also work on the issue, and the health of wombats has increasingly been supported by investments from state governments and industry, particularly over the past decade. </p>
<p>Help for wombats is predominantly through the use of treatments delivered to captive and wild individuals. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/whats-happening-to-the-southern-hairy-nosed-wombats-7234">What's happening to the southern hairy nosed wombats?</a>
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<p>There are significant practical challenges in treating free-living wombats. To <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/1365-2664.14298">improve the chances of success</a>, decisions must be made based on data and with collaboration among all stakeholders. Indeed, the last decade has seen significant advances through collaboration, research and engagement that are benefiting wombats. </p>
<p>There are also challenges that persist, such as confirmation-biases leading some well intended wildlife groups to treat sarcoptic mange in wombats with drug doses <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s00436-022-07460-4">many times higher</a> than the needed or recommended amount. This can have unintended results, such as toxicity to the wombat, pharmaceuticals entering the environment, and mites developing a resistance to the drugs. </p>
<p>The Australian Pesticide and Veterinary Management Authority makes important decisions about granting permits for management of mange in wombats. The authority must be astute in interpreting the strengths and limitations of evidence when making these decisions, and seek input where additional expertise is needed.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211992/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Scott Carver has received funding toward understanding and managing the impacts of sarcoptic mange in wombats from the Australian Research Council, state governments in Tasmania, ACT and NSW, local government in Tasmania, wildlife organisations, private industry, and philanthropic donations. </span></em></p>Despite their solitary lifestyle, wombats are at risk from a disease that spreads via their burrows.Scott Carver, Associate Professor, Wildlife Ecology, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2103862023-08-15T01:04:54Z2023-08-15T01:04:54ZTwo new Australian mammal species just dropped – and they are very small<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540949/original/file-20230803-17-1x5uk7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=15%2C5%2C3378%2C2258&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Linette Umbrello</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You probably know about the Tasmanian devil. You might even know about its smaller, less-famous relative, the spotted-tailed quoll.</p>
<p>But these are far from the only meat-eating marsupials. Australia is home to a suite of other carnivorous and insectivorous pouched mammals as well, some of them the size of a mouse or smaller. </p>
<p>Tiniest of all are the planigales, some of which weigh less than a teaspoonful of water. <a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-5-of-australias-tiniest-mammals-who-tread-a-tightrope-between-life-and-death-every-night-159239">Despite their size</a>, these fierce predators often take on prey as big as themselves.</p>
<p>To date, there are four known species of planigale found across Australia. We have recently discovered <a href="https://www.mapress.com/zt/article/view/zootaxa.5330.1.1">another two species</a>, both inhabitants of the Pilbara region of northwest Western Australia: the orange-headed Pilbara planigale (<em>Planigale kendricki</em>) and the cracking-clay Pilbara planigale (<em>P. tealei</em>).</p>
<h2>How many kinds of planigale are there?</h2>
<p>The name planigale translates to “flat weasel”, an allusion to their extremely flat heads, which allow them to shelter in small cracks in rocks and clay soils. Planigales are among Australia’s smallest mammals, with some weighing an average of 4–6 grams (and measuring around 11cm in length), and other species a bit larger at 8–17 grams (and 13cm long).</p>
<p>Scientific studies from the late 1970s onward using body-shape and DNA data have suggested there are many more planigale species than we think.</p>
<p>We put these theories to the test, and found that planigales in the Pilbara display unique body shapes and are genetically unrelated to any of the four known planigale species. </p>
<h2>Why have these species only been described now?</h2>
<p>The process of describing these two new species was actually started more than 20 years ago, by scientists who were working at the Western Australian Museum at the time. </p>
<p>Their work began after ecologists conducting surveys for developing mines in the Pilbara were capturing planigales that didn’t really fit the descriptions of the known species. For want of a better option, they were still usually identified as either the common planigale (<em>P. maculata</em>) or the long-tailed planigale (<em>P. ingrami</em>). </p>
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<em>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-has-hundreds-of-mammal-species-we-want-to-find-them-all-before-theyre-gone-185495">Australia has hundreds of mammal species. We want to find them all – before they're gone</a>
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<p>Scientists led by taxonomist Ken Aplin began examining specimens held in the WA Museum and sequencing their DNA. These studies helped to confirm the discovery of two new species. </p>
<p>Sadly, Ken fell ill and passed away in 2019. This is where we stepped in. </p>
<p>Through support from the <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/science-research/abrs">Australian Biological Resources Study</a> and the Queensland University of Technology we were able to finish off Ken’s species descriptions and submit the research for publication. This is a crucial step in taxonomy – the species description has to be published before the new name can be considered official.</p>
<h2>What do we know about the new species?</h2>
<p>Both new species occur in the Pilbara and surrounding areas. The orange-headed Pilbara planigale is the larger of the two, weighing an average of 7g (up to 12g for large males) with a longer, pointier snout and bright orange colouring on the head. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540948/original/file-20230803-19-smi94r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A small brown mouse-like marsupial sitting among reddish soil." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540948/original/file-20230803-19-smi94r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540948/original/file-20230803-19-smi94r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540948/original/file-20230803-19-smi94r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540948/original/file-20230803-19-smi94r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540948/original/file-20230803-19-smi94r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540948/original/file-20230803-19-smi94r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540948/original/file-20230803-19-smi94r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The cracking-clay Pilbara planigale (<em>P. tealei</em>) has only been found on cracking-clay soils.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Linette Umbrello</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
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<p>The cracking-clay Pilbara planigale is much smaller, averaging just 4g with darker colouration and a shorter face. It has only been found on cracking clay soils, hence its name. </p>
<p>The orange-headed Pilbara planigale has been found on rocky and sandy soils as well, but both species require a dense cover of native grasses to persist. Both species actively forage during the night, while taking shelter during the day.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-140-year-old-tassie-tiger-brain-sample-survived-two-world-wars-and-made-it-to-our-lab-heres-what-we-found-210634">A 140-year-old Tassie tiger brain sample survived two world wars and made it to our lab. Here's what we found</a>
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<p>This means the two widespread species, the common planigale and the long-tailed planigale, do not occur in the Pilbara or on neighbouring Barrow Island, as was previously thought. </p>
<p>There is still a lot more work for us to do as there remain two “species complexes” of planigales. These are groups where genetic data suggests a species is comprised of multiple different forms. </p>
<p>We’ll be following up on this with more analysis to define more of Australia’s tiniest mammals.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210386/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Linette Umbrello receives funding from the Australian Biological Resources Study program and the Queensland University of Technology. Linette is a Research Associate at the Western Australian Museum.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew M. Baker receives funding from the Australian Biological Resources Study Program. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kenny Travouillon receives funding from the Australian Biological Resources Study Program, and is an adjunct at Curtin University.</span></em></p>The tiny, mouse-like planigales are some of the smallest marsupials around – and there are two more species of them than anybody realised.Linette Umbrello, Postdoctoral research associate, Queensland University of TechnologyAndrew M. Baker, Academic in Ecology and Environmental Science, Queensland University of TechnologyKenny Travouillon, Curator of Mammals, Western Australian MuseumLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2090382023-08-10T01:17:41Z2023-08-10T01:17:41ZMeet 5 marvellous mammals of the South Pacific you’ve probably never heard of<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541646/original/file-20230808-21-gvt2ao.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=20%2C37%2C2741%2C2086&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/waigeo-spotted-cuscus-relaxing-on-branch-1722987340">Arie de Gier, Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Islands are renowned for their weird and wonderful wildlife. These isolated ecosystems present unparalleled opportunities to study evolution, and the archipelagos of the southwest Pacific are no exception. </p>
<p>This vast and diverse region encompasses 24 nations and territories. It also includes four “<a href="https://www.cepf.net/our-work/biodiversity-hotspots">biodiversity hotspots</a>”: the East Melanesian Islands, Polynesia-Micronesia, New Caledonia and New Zealand. Each contains at least 1,500 plant species found nowhere else on Earth. So their total land area may be small, but south-west Pacific islands punch well above their weight in terms of their contributions to global biodiversity.</p>
<p>Our <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7928/">latest book</a> provides glimpses of more than 180 native mammals of the southwest Pacific, on islands that fall under the banners of Polynesia, Micronesia and Melanesia (but excluding the island of New Guinea). Indigenous species of marsupials, bats, rodents and a monotreme are among the animals found here. Not surprisingly, half of these are endemic. Many are found only on a single island or small group of islands.</p>
<p>Let’s meet five charismatic species you’ve probably never have heard of, but simply must get to know.</p>
<h2>1. Black dorcopsis or black forest wallaby (<em>Dorcopsis atrata</em>)</h2>
<p><strong>Conservation status: critically endangered</strong></p>
<p><strong>Distribution: Goodenough Island (Papua New Guinea)</strong></p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541588/original/file-20230807-19-dbkg37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A drawing of the black dorcopsis or black forest wallaby, side view." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541588/original/file-20230807-19-dbkg37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541588/original/file-20230807-19-dbkg37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541588/original/file-20230807-19-dbkg37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541588/original/file-20230807-19-dbkg37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=420&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541588/original/file-20230807-19-dbkg37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541588/original/file-20230807-19-dbkg37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541588/original/file-20230807-19-dbkg37.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=528&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The black dorcopsis (<em>Dorcopsis atrata</em>) is an enigmatic wallaby from forests on the mountains of Papua New Guinea’s Goodenough Island.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Madison Erin Mayfield</span></span>
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<p>At the southeastern tip of Papua New Guinea is the gravity-defying Goodenough Island. It looms more than 2,500 metres above sea level, but it’s only about 3,900 metres wide – at the widest point. </p>
<p>Goodenough’s higher peaks are covered in rare forests. Here among the clouds is the only place you’ll find black dorcopsis.</p>
<p>Black dorcopsis often have very worn claws, suggesting they spend a great deal of time <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1754504811000195">digging for truffles</a> in the rocky soil. This probably plays an important role in dispersing fungi throughout their habitat. </p>
<p>Curiously, some appear to be wearing white gloves, on one or both front paws. Others do not. No one knows why. </p>
<h2>2. Waigeo cuscus (<em>Spilocuscus papuensis</em>)</h2>
<p><strong>Conservation status: vulnerable</strong></p>
<p><strong>Distribution: Waigeo (Indonesia)</strong></p>
<p>Waigeo cuscus have a remarkable coat. Irregular black splotches stand out against a background of almost pure white. In young animals these contrasting colours are subdued by the presence of blackish-grey tips to the hairs. </p>
<p>The cuscus have been photographed in the branches of fruiting fig (<em>Ficus</em> spp.) and breadfruit (<em>Artocarpus altilis</em>) trees, so they have a taste for fruit.</p>
<h2>3. Bougainville melomys (<em>Melomys bougainville</em>)</h2>
<p><strong>Conservation status: data deficient</strong></p>
<p><strong>Distribution: Bougainville (Papua New Guinea), Choiseul and Mono (Solomon Islands)</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541590/original/file-20230807-23-tde9av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo of the native rodent Bougainville melomys standing on brown leaf litter" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541590/original/file-20230807-23-tde9av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541590/original/file-20230807-23-tde9av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541590/original/file-20230807-23-tde9av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541590/original/file-20230807-23-tde9av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541590/original/file-20230807-23-tde9av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541590/original/file-20230807-23-tde9av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541590/original/file-20230807-23-tde9av.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Bougainville melomys (<em>Melomys bougainville</em>) occurs in a wide variety of habitat on the islands of Bougainville, Choiseul and Mono.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stephen Richards</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Pacific Island native rodents have proven vulnerable to disturbance, but thankfully Bougainville melomys seems to remain relatively common. </p>
<p>The contrast between orange fur on the head and back, and crisp white fur on the belly is rather attractive. </p>
<p>An active climber, Bougainville melomys can be found tiptoeing along thin woody vines (lianas), in fruiting trees among Bismarck common cuscuses (<em>Phalanger breviceps</em>), or scaling the trunks of wild betel nut palms (<em>Areca</em> spp.). They’ll tolerate disturbance and have been known to visit village edges to nibble on cultivated bananas.</p>
<h2>4. Lesser sheath-tailed bat (<em>Mosia nigrescens</em>)</h2>
<p><strong>Conservation status: least concern</strong></p>
<p><strong>Distribution: Widespread throughout Indonesia, Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541591/original/file-20230807-675-za2v2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo of three lesser sheath-tail bats huddled under a palm tree leaf" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541591/original/file-20230807-675-za2v2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541591/original/file-20230807-675-za2v2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541591/original/file-20230807-675-za2v2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541591/original/file-20230807-675-za2v2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=900&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541591/original/file-20230807-675-za2v2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541591/original/file-20230807-675-za2v2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541591/original/file-20230807-675-za2v2r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1131&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Lesser sheath-tail bats (<em>Mosia nigrescens</em>) are endearing little animals that roost in ‘tents’ under palm tree leaves across parts of Melanesia.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Stephen Richards</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>If you’re quiet and patient while walking through the palm-filled lowland forests of Melanesia, you might be lucky enough to spot one of the region’s smallest and most common echo locating bats. </p>
<p>Lesser sheath-tailed bats are alert little creatures with good eyesight. They rest in small groups huddled together under the cover of a palm leaf where they’re sheltered from the rain. Although watchful, they’ll stay in place if approached with caution, allowing time to view how neatly stacked they are. </p>
<p>Lesser sheath-tailed bats are among the first to emerge of an evening, leaving their palm tree tents while there is still plenty of twilight. They fly in sharp circles in the open spaces above forests and villages. Then as darkness falls, they move away to focus on other areas. </p>
<p>Later in the evening you can find them back in the same roosts, again lined up front to back, taking a breather from their busy schedule of hunting for insects on the wing.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pacific-island-bats-are-utterly-fascinating-yet-under-threat-and-overlooked-meet-4-species-165765">Pacific Island bats are utterly fascinating, yet under threat and overlooked. Meet 4 species</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>5. Palau flying-fox (<em>Pteropus pelewensis</em>)</h2>
<p><strong>Conservation status: vulnerable</strong></p>
<p><strong>Distribution: Ulithi, Yap (Federated States of Micronesia), Palau</strong></p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541592/original/file-20230807-27645-ndrc99.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo of a Palau flying-fox with outstretched wings, flying over a green landscape." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541592/original/file-20230807-27645-ndrc99.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541592/original/file-20230807-27645-ndrc99.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541592/original/file-20230807-27645-ndrc99.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541592/original/file-20230807-27645-ndrc99.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541592/original/file-20230807-27645-ndrc99.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541592/original/file-20230807-27645-ndrc99.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541592/original/file-20230807-27645-ndrc99.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Palau flying-fox (<em>Pteropus pelewensis</em>) has suffered from hunting and international trade.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Thibaud Aronson</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The south-west Pacific supports an incredible diversity of endemic <em>Pteropus</em> flying-foxes. Over-harvesting and international trade for human consumption pushed most of Micronesia’s flying-foxes to the brink of extinction (and in fact did send two species extinct). </p>
<p>Thankfully the introduction of restrictions under the <a href="https://cites.org/eng">Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species</a> stabilised populations of the Palau fying-fox. However, it remains <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/species/118093652/206768055">vulnerable</a> and threatened by habitat loss and climate change.</p>
<h2>So much to learn</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541608/original/file-20230808-25-kenxlv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Illustrated book cover for Mammals of the South-West Pacific" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541608/original/file-20230808-25-kenxlv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541608/original/file-20230808-25-kenxlv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541608/original/file-20230808-25-kenxlv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541608/original/file-20230808-25-kenxlv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=865&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541608/original/file-20230808-25-kenxlv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1087&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541608/original/file-20230808-25-kenxlv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1087&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541608/original/file-20230808-25-kenxlv.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1087&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The species showcased here represent just a small fraction of the diversity of south-west Pacific mammals. </p>
<p>So many unique species evolved here, on discrete areas of land separated by ocean. </p>
<p>Unfortunately islands are also vulnerable to human disturbance and extinctions have <a href="https://theconversation.com/pacific-island-bats-are-utterly-fascinating-yet-under-threat-and-overlooked-meet-4-species-165765">already occurred</a> here. </p>
<p>There is still much to learn about many of these mammals. We hope <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/book/7928/">this book</a> will inspire more research, including how we can keep these fascinating island inhabitants thriving in a time of such great environmental change. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/humans-werent-to-blame-for-the-extinction-of-prehistoric-island-dwelling-animals-160092">Humans weren't to blame for the extinction of prehistoric island-dwelling animals</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209038/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tyrone Lavery has received funding from the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, The Australian Museum, The Field Museum of Natural History, Fondation Segre, The Australia Pacific Science Foundation, and the National Science Foundation.</span></em></p>From the cuscus with the fancy coat, to the wallaby often sporting a single white glove, a wide variety of life evolved on island homes in the south-west Pacific.Tyrone Lavery, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2106342023-08-01T02:23:26Z2023-08-01T02:23:26ZA 140-year-old Tassie tiger brain sample survived two world wars and made it to our lab. Here’s what we found<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540321/original/file-20230801-23-6pkxa0.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1156%2C412%2C5080%2C4054&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Model of a thylacine at the Australian Museum</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sydney-australia-26th-mar-2023-model-2285454969">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Researchers often think how and when their results will be published. However, many research projects don’t see the light until decades (or even centuries) later, if at all.</p>
<p>This is the case of a high-resolution atlas of the Tasmanian tiger or thylacine brain. Carefully processed over 140 years ago, it is finally published today <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2306516120">in the journal PNAS</a>.</p>
<h2>Similar, but not wolves</h2>
<p>Thylacines were dingo-sized carnivorous marsupials that roamed through Australia and New Guinea prior to human occupation. They became confined to Tasmania around 3,000 years ago. </p>
<p>The arrival of European colonists and the introduction of farming, diseases and hunting bounties quickly led to their extinction. The last known individual died on September 7 1936 at Hobart’s Beaumaris Zoo. As a commemoration, September 7 became the <a href="https://wwf.org.au/what-we-do/species/national-threatened-species-day/">National Threatened Species Day</a> to raise conservation awareness in Australia.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540316/original/file-20230801-160144-n1srym.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540316/original/file-20230801-160144-n1srym.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540316/original/file-20230801-160144-n1srym.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540316/original/file-20230801-160144-n1srym.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540316/original/file-20230801-160144-n1srym.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540316/original/file-20230801-160144-n1srym.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540316/original/file-20230801-160144-n1srym.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540316/original/file-20230801-160144-n1srym.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=492&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thylacine family at Beaumaris Zoo in 1910.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thylacine#/media/File:Thylacines.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/should-we-bring-back-the-thylacine-we-asked-5-experts-188894">Should we bring back the thylacine? We asked 5 experts</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Thylacines looked remarkably similar to wolves and dogs (that is, canids). This is a textbook example of a process known as evolutionary convergence: when the body shapes of animals are really similar, despite them coming from different lineages.</p>
<p>However, whether thylacine brains are also similar to wolves has been very hard to find out, due to a lack of material available for microscopic studies. In the newly published study, my colleagues and I uploaded high-resolution images to a <a href="http://www.brainmaps.org/index.php?action=viewslides&datid=170">public repository</a>, and studied brain sections prepared for microscopy from a thylacine that died in the Berlin Zoo in 1880.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540312/original/file-20230801-17-luml9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Image of a website with a series of purple brain images in a grid" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540312/original/file-20230801-17-luml9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540312/original/file-20230801-17-luml9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540312/original/file-20230801-17-luml9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540312/original/file-20230801-17-luml9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=430&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540312/original/file-20230801-17-luml9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540312/original/file-20230801-17-luml9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540312/original/file-20230801-17-luml9j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=540&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A screen capture showing a selection of the thylacine brain scans the team uploaded to a public image repository.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.brainmaps.org/index.php?action=viewslides&datid=170&start=1">BrainMaps.org</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Kept safe by researchers</h2>
<p>Unfortunately, very little information about this specimen was available (for example, its sex and body weight was missing). Details were likely lost during both world wars. But the samples were kept safe by researchers who understood their biological relevance. </p>
<p>Initial custodians likely included German scientists Oskar and Cecile Vogt, whose large privately owned brain sample collection was incorporated into the <a href="https://brain.mpg.de/81041/history">Kaiser Wilhelm Institute for Brain Research</a> in 1914. Vogt – <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0361923098001245">who also studied Lenin’s brain</a> – was the founding director of the institute, prior to the couple escaping the Nazis in 1937.</p>
<p>The institute later became the Max Planck Institute for Brain Research and moved to Frankfurt in 1962. There, late neurobiologist Heinz Stephan handed the thylacine material to John Nelson from Monash University (co-author of this study) in 1973, to be returned to Australia.</p>
<p>The original samples are currently held by <a href="https://www.csiro.au/en/about/facilities-collections/collections/anwc">CSIRO’s Australian National Wildlife Collection</a> in Canberra.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540313/original/file-20230801-241351-d7ns4b.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540313/original/file-20230801-241351-d7ns4b.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540313/original/file-20230801-241351-d7ns4b.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540313/original/file-20230801-241351-d7ns4b.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540313/original/file-20230801-241351-d7ns4b.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=377&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540313/original/file-20230801-241351-d7ns4b.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540313/original/file-20230801-241351-d7ns4b.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540313/original/file-20230801-241351-d7ns4b.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=473&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The last known thylacine was captured in Tasmania, and kept at the Beaumaris Zoo in Hobart.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:%22Benjamin%22.jpg">Wikimedia</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/extinct-but-not-gone-the-thylacine-continues-to-fascinate-us-201865">Extinct but not gone – the thylacine continues to fascinate us</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Brain features reveal a family</h2>
<p>So, what did we discover after analysing the samples? Overall, the thylacine brain resembles that of its carnivorous marsupial relatives (<a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/dasyurid">dasyurids</a>, like dunnarts, quolls and Tasmanian devils) more than that of wolves or other canids.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540319/original/file-20230801-17-lxz8o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540319/original/file-20230801-17-lxz8o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/540319/original/file-20230801-17-lxz8o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540319/original/file-20230801-17-lxz8o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540319/original/file-20230801-17-lxz8o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=618&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540319/original/file-20230801-17-lxz8o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540319/original/file-20230801-17-lxz8o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/540319/original/file-20230801-17-lxz8o.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=777&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Thylacines are related to other Australian carnivorous marsupials, pictured here: Tasmanian tiger, Tasmanian devil, tiger quoll, numbat, yellow-footed antiechinus, fat-tailed dunnart.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Dasyuromorphia_portraits.jpg">Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The brain region known as the cerebral cortex, which is responsible for planning actions and sensing the environment, is larger than in other dasyurids. Brain regions involved in processing smells also suggest that scavenging and hunting behaviours were important in this species.</p>
<p>These findings show that despite body resemblance, brain features better show the evolutionary relatedness between species.</p>
<p>Making this material openly available allows for anyone to study the thylacine brain and gain a clearer picture of this long-gone species. <a href="https://biomedical-sciences.uq.edu.au/research/groups/brain-evolution-and-development">Our ongoing research</a> using dunnarts is also providing new insights about the development and evolution of the mammalian brain.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-tasmanian-tiger-was-hunted-to-extinction-as-a-large-predator-but-it-was-only-half-as-heavy-as-we-thought-144599">The Tasmanian tiger was hunted to extinction as a 'large predator' – but it was only half as heavy as we thought</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/210634/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rodrigo Suarez receives grant funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Health and Medical Research Council.</span></em></p>Brain samples of a thylacine that died in 1880 in Berlin were kept safe by researchers for decades. Now, they have finally been analysed.Rodrigo Suarez, Senior Lecturer- School of Biomedical Sciences and Queensland Brain Institute, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2090332023-07-23T19:58:28Z2023-07-23T19:58:28ZGlide poles: the great Aussie invention helping flying possums cross the road<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536949/original/file-20230712-25-prm6on.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/sugar-gliders-seen-green-garden-jump-1813747193">Anom Harya, Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Next time you’re road-tripping along the east coast, keep an eye out for a little-known Aussie invention piercing the skyline: glide poles. For Australia’s gliding possums, or gliders, they’re the next best thing since tall trees. </p>
<p>These tall timber structures, with timber cross arms near the top, give gliders a way to cross big roads. They can shimmy up a pole on one side of the road and then leap to another (and another) to get to the other side. </p>
<p>After witnessing the earliest experiments with glide poles decades ago, it’s heartening to see the design refined and replicated up and down the east coast. </p>
<p>The world’s largest gliding marsupial, the greater glider, was listed nationally as endangered a year ago this month. That’s because their populations had declined by 80% in just 20 years. As land-clearing and bushfires continue to destroy old growth forests with tall trees and hollows, gliders need all the help they can get. </p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/aTj4cxYf8Gg?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Watch squirrel gliders getting used to their new road crossing device in Forster, New South Wales (2022)</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/greater-gliders-are-hurtling-towards-extinction-and-the-blame-lies-squarely-with-australian-governments-186469">Greater gliders are hurtling towards extinction, and the blame lies squarely with Australian governments</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Biomimicry with wooden poles</h2>
<p>From the match-box sized feathertail glider to the small cat-sized greater glider, Australia’s 11 species each have a gliding membrane, or patagium. This a thin area of skin stretching from the ankles to the wrists or hands. </p>
<p>When a glider leaps from a tree (or glide pole), it extends its front and hind limbs, stretching out its patagium, which allows it to glide. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/marsupials-and-other-mammals-separately-evolved-flight-many-times-and-we-are-finally-learning-how-202152">Marsupials and other mammals separately evolved flight many times, and we are finally learning how</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>In 1993 Ross Goldingay, one of Australia’s leading glider ecologists, <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/59374e666a4963c6df22569f/t/59faac7771c10b386ab87091/1509600406866/Goldingay_Glideways_Symposium_Pres1.pdf">came up with the idea</a> of using tall wooden power poles (without wires) as road-crossing stepping-stones for gliders. The glide poles would act as substitutes for tall trees, so it was a very simple and elegant form of what’s known as “biomimicry”.</p>
<p>Ross directed the placement of glide poles on either side of a powerline easement at Bomaderry Creek near Nowra in southern New South Wales. <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/am/AM10023">The trial</a> aimed to ensure yellow-bellied gliders could still cross the easement if it was developed into a local road. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, the Bomaderry Creek glide poles were never monitored. More than ten years later, a series of successful trials at Mackay and Compton Road in Brisbane demonstrated gliders would readily use glide poles. I recall showing Ross early images of squirrel gliders shimmying up the smooth, hardwood poles on the Compton Road land bridge soon after we installed cameras. We were blown away!</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536567/original/file-20230710-15681-2wnorq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536567/original/file-20230710-15681-2wnorq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536567/original/file-20230710-15681-2wnorq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536567/original/file-20230710-15681-2wnorq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536567/original/file-20230710-15681-2wnorq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536567/original/file-20230710-15681-2wnorq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536567/original/file-20230710-15681-2wnorq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Before trees grew up, a series of glide poles on the Compton Road land bridge in Brisbane provided stepping-stone connections between forest on either side.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brendan Taylor</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The poles needed to be tall enough to enable a comfortable glide crossing of the intervening gap. This is where trigonometry and the laws of physics come in, to <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/zo/ZO09003">get the calculations right</a> for the species being targeted. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536557/original/file-20230710-12553-bkplhu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536557/original/file-20230710-12553-bkplhu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536557/original/file-20230710-12553-bkplhu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536557/original/file-20230710-12553-bkplhu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536557/original/file-20230710-12553-bkplhu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536557/original/file-20230710-12553-bkplhu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536557/original/file-20230710-12553-bkplhu.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Roadside glide poles connect forest habitat for squirrel gliders across Scrub Road in Brisbane.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brendan Taylor</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Since then, glide poles have become a fixture of upgrades along the <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/WR/WR14067">Hume Highway in Victoria</a>, the <a href="https://www.pacifichighway.nsw.gov.au/environment/wildlife-management/wildlife">Pacific Highway in NSW</a> and the <a href="https://wildlife.org.au/project/mahogany-glider-recovery-project/">Bruce Highway in Queensland</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536551/original/file-20230710-6018-5kvje7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536551/original/file-20230710-6018-5kvje7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536551/original/file-20230710-6018-5kvje7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536551/original/file-20230710-6018-5kvje7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=311&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536551/original/file-20230710-6018-5kvje7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536551/original/file-20230710-6018-5kvje7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536551/original/file-20230710-6018-5kvje7.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Glide poles rise from the roadside landscape along the Hume Highway near Holbrook in western New South Wales.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brendan Taylor</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Do the poles reconnect glider populations?</h2>
<p>We are gradually gathering more evidence of glide pole use. Squirrel gliders, sugar gliders and feathertail gliders have been recorded <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.12966">using glide poles</a> to cross roads <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/am/AM18008">at several locations</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://wildlife.org.au/project/mahogany-glider-recovery-project/">Mahogany gliders</a>, <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/am/AM20015">yellow-bellied gliders</a> and <a href="http://www.ecologyandtransport.com/anet-2018">southern greater gliders</a> have also been recorded using glide poles. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536572/original/file-20230710-27-fwys8r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536572/original/file-20230710-27-fwys8r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536572/original/file-20230710-27-fwys8r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536572/original/file-20230710-27-fwys8r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=223&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536572/original/file-20230710-27-fwys8r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536572/original/file-20230710-27-fwys8r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536572/original/file-20230710-27-fwys8r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=280&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A yellow-belled glider launches into a glide crossing of the Pacific Higway at Halfway Creek, NSW.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sandpiper Ecological/Transport for NSW</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Most notably, retrofitting a glider crossing into a road that previously presented a barrier to squirrel glider movement <a href="https://besjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1365-2664.12966">restored gene flow</a> between populations on either side within five years.</p>
<h2>Celebrating some of Australia’s most iconic wildlife crossings</h2>
<p>Glide poles are one of many structures designed to provide safe road crossing opportunities for wildlife. </p>
<p>Pipes and box culverts can provide safe passage under the road, while land bridges and rope canopy bridges offer an alternative pathway over the road. </p>
<p>When combined with fencing, these structures reduce roadkill, provide access to resources on both sides of the road, and enable gene flow. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cambridgescholars.com/product/978-1-5275-0142-3">My new book</a> combines an exploration of the how, when, where and why wildlife crossings evolved in eastern Australia with a travel guide to 57 of its most iconic sites.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/ZDvOzeWqPx4?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Here’s a great example of a land bridge that’s created a successful wildlife corridor on Gardening Australia.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The road ahead</h2>
<p>We need to conserve, protect and restore our natural landscapes. This is especially the case in a rapidly changing climate. Our unique native species need to be able to move and adapt to the changing environment.</p>
<p>Carving up the landscape for road networks has been particularly bad for wildlife, with many populations becoming increasingly fragmented and increasingly isolated. But roads no longer need to act as roadblocks for the movement of many native species. </p>
<p>Engineers and ecologists have come together over recent years to find new ways to support the safe passage of animals from one side of the road to another. Their efforts deserve to be celebrated. Especially glide poles. They may not be as famous as the good old Hills Hoist clothesline, but they certainly deserve a gong as a great Australian invention. Certainly worth a nod when you pass by on your next great Aussie road trip.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209033/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brendan Taylor received funding from Brisbane City Council and Transport for NSW to conduct fieldwork reported in this article. </span></em></p>It’s not as well-known as the Hills Hoist clothesline, but here’s another Aussie invention worth celebrating: Glide poles are reconnecting severed landscapes for a special group of marsupials.Brendan Taylor, Adjunct Research Fellow in the Faculty of Science & Engineering, Southern Cross UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2077262023-06-21T03:46:33Z2023-06-21T03:46:33ZWallaby joeys and platypus puggles are tiny and undeveloped when born. But their mother’s milk is near-magical<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/533073/original/file-20230621-15-52pq5n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=46%2C19%2C948%2C633&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ed Slater/CSIRO</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You’re a mammal. So is a kangaroo. We’ve got much in common. But one of the most interesting is we all feed our newborns with milk. The word mammal comes from <em>mamma</em>, which is Latin for breast.</p>
<p>In Australia, we have many placental mammal species, like bats and native rodents. Humans are placental mammals too. But our country is far better known for our marsupials and monotremes, which have different reproductive strategies to placental mammals. We have around two-thirds of all living marsupial species, and two of the five remaining monotreme species on the planet – the platypus (<em>Ornithorhynchus anatinus</em>) and short-beaked echidna (<em>Tachyglossus aculeatus</em>). The other three echidna species live on the island of New Guinea. </p>
<p>Monotremes are the only mammals to lay eggs. When an echidna egg hatches, the baby is very underdeveloped. Marsupials, too, give birth to underdeveloped young. When a wallaby gives birth to a tiny pink joey, it’s the equivalent to us giving birth to an eight week old foetus. Most of their development happens outside the womb or egg. </p>
<p>To overcome this, female marsupials and monotremes produce <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/9335">truly remarkable milk</a>. Their milk not only supplies nutrients for sustenance, but also has factors essential for growth and immunological protection. Their milk likely has chemicals serving to attract newborns to the teat even though they have very little sensory or movement ability at this stage. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/dHocViqKbbc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Echidnas and platypuses lay eggs, which hatch revealing underdeveloped puggles.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>It can be a fight to find a teat</h2>
<p>All mammals possess mammary glands. These specialised glands evolved 166–240 million years ago and have diversified into a wide range of sizes and shapes.</p>
<p>While marsupials have teats for their joeys to suckle from, monotremes have milk patches which secrete milk directly onto the pigmented skin of the areola where their baby puggles can lap the milk from the pores. For marsupials, the number of teats equates to the number of mammary glands. The larger the marsupial, the fewer teats they have. Smaller marsupials have more teats. The highest number of mammary glands recorded in a marsupial is 13, in the gray short-tailed opossum (<em>Monodelphis domestica</em>), while the largest surviving marsupial, the red kangaroo (<em>Osphranter rufus</em>), only has four teats.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/some-animals-pause-their-own-pregnancies-but-how-they-do-it-is-still-a-mystery-125635">Some animals pause their own pregnancies, but how they do it is still a mystery</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>As you’d expect, teat numbers align with the maximum number of young a marsupial mother can sustain. Newborn marsupials have to seek out and firmly attach themselves to the teat. In some species, the first hours are brutal as more young can be born than there are teats for them, and only those able to latch on in the first few hours can survive. The red-tailed phascogale (<em>Phascogale calura</em>) – a tree-living insect eating marsupial – can give birth to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/jez.2438">up to 13 young</a> but females only have eight teats.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531899/original/file-20230614-29-clcfua.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531899/original/file-20230614-29-clcfua.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531899/original/file-20230614-29-clcfua.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531899/original/file-20230614-29-clcfua.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=249&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531899/original/file-20230614-29-clcfua.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531899/original/file-20230614-29-clcfua.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531899/original/file-20230614-29-clcfua.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=313&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A gray short-tailed opossum (<em>Monodelphis domestica</em>) showing pouch young attached to teats.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rob Miller. Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>So what’s in their magic milk?</h2>
<p>Monotremes and marsupials <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/9335">produce different milk</a> at different stages of lactation. </p>
<p>Early on, their milk is more dilute. As the joeys and puggles get bigger, it becomes more concentrated, with more protein and fat. This peaks towards the end of lactation when the young are weaned. Carbohydrate levels peak in mid to late lactation and then decrease to weaning. Interestingly, iron levels in marsupial and monotreme milk are three times higher than in placental mammal milk. That’s because joeys and puggles are so undeveloped – they have to rely on iron-rich milk to construct proteins to build, carry and store oxygen until their liver matures.</p>
<p>Macropod (big foot in Greek) marsupials like kangaroos and wallabies are capable of an even more remarkable feat. They can produce tailor-made milk with different nutrients from different teats so they can feed, say, a newborn joey at the same time as feeding her older brother who is about to leave the pouch.</p>
<h2>Producing milk takes effort and energy</h2>
<p>As anyone who has breastfed a child will know, it’s tiring – and you get hungry. Marsupial mums need double or triple their usual amount of energy by boosting <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.physbeh.2015.08.012">how much they eat</a>, while echidnas have to rely on their fat stores at first, because they stay in the nursery burrow all the time when the puggles are tiny. When their offspring are a bit older, the mother leaves them alone and goes on a hunt for ants and termites.</p>
<p>More milk means faster growth rates for the young. Monotreme puggles, particularly echidnas, are fed infrequently. Their growth is clustered around feedings. They grow faster after having a big feed and slower when their mother is out foraging. Marsupial and monotreme milk also <a href="https://peerj.com/articles/9335">provides essential nutrients and additional factors</a> required to support growth.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531904/original/file-20230614-17-z3g0a3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531904/original/file-20230614-17-z3g0a3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531904/original/file-20230614-17-z3g0a3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531904/original/file-20230614-17-z3g0a3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531904/original/file-20230614-17-z3g0a3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531904/original/file-20230614-17-z3g0a3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531904/original/file-20230614-17-z3g0a3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=545&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Red-tailed phascogale (<em>Phascogale calura</em>) pouch young at approximately 40 days of age showing their underdeveloped state.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Photo supplied by Hayley Stannard</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Milk, the immunological superhero</h2>
<p>Marsupial joeys cannot fully defend themselves against bacteria and viruses at birth in the same way we can, because they lack mature <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/jmor.20250">immune tissues and cells</a>. </p>
<p>That means their immune system is bolstered by milk. All mammals produce colostrum in their milk in the first few days of lactation. This milk often looks different, because it contains billions of antibodies to help defend the newborn. </p>
<p>In marsupials, milk carries antibodies <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/zo/ZO96063">as well as</a> immunological cells from the mother. In marsupials with pouches, the pouch itself secretes antibacterial proteins to reduce the growth of opportunistic pathogens. For some species, such as the tammar wallaby (<em>Notamacropus eugenii</em>), licking and cleaning the pouch by the mother and the work of her saliva-borne digestive lysozymes are also likely to protect against bacterial attack.</p>
<p>Milk is essential to the survival of all mammals – but it’s especially important for puggles and joeys. The miracle and magic of marsupial and monotreme milk is how it’s tailored to help these tiny, underdeveloped creatures survive in the outside world – and how the milk changes throughout the process to match their changing requirements. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/doctors-pouch-australian-mammals-hold-the-key-to-fighting-superbugs-3225">Doctor's pouch: Australian mammals hold the key to fighting superbugs</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207726/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>All mammals produce milk. But there’s no milk quite like that produced by monotremes and marsupials. Here’s what’s so special about it.Hayley Stannard, Senior lecturer, Charles Sturt UniversityJulie Old, Associate Professor, Biology, Zoology, Animal Science, Western Sydney UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2057592023-06-07T00:49:44Z2023-06-07T00:49:44ZGiant tree-kangaroos once lived in unexpected places all over Australia, according to major new analysis<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529536/original/file-20230601-28-j6qu5h.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=287%2C296%2C5236%2C3565&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dendrolagus goodfelowi, or Goodfellow's tree-kangaroo.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Kangaroos are an enduring symbol of Australia’s uniqueness. To move, they do what no other large mammals do: they hop along on oversized hind legs. So you may be surprised to learn that some kangaroos live in trees, and are among the most endearing and threatened of all marsupials.</p>
<p>Today, biologists recognise ten tree-kangaroo species, all in the genus <em>Dendrolagus</em>. Two species inhabit tropical forest in far northern Queensland. The other eight live in New Guinea.</p>
<p>Studying them is difficult because their habitats are hard to access, they live high in trees and are increasingly rare due to human impacts.</p>
<p>The evolutionary history of tree-kangaroos is even more obscure. In a new study <a href="https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.5299.1.1">published today in Zootaxa</a>, we pull together all the evidence on fossil tree-kangaroos and show giant tree-kangaroo species were widespread across Australia, and lived in habitats that were a long way from tropical forest – their modern-day home.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Illustration of several maruspials in an ancient landscape" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527321/original/file-20230519-7659-rz8ynn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527321/original/file-20230519-7659-rz8ynn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527321/original/file-20230519-7659-rz8ynn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527321/original/file-20230519-7659-rz8ynn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=433&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527321/original/file-20230519-7659-rz8ynn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527321/original/file-20230519-7659-rz8ynn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527321/original/file-20230519-7659-rz8ynn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=544&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reconstruction of the giant tree-kangaroo <em>Bohra illuminata</em>, Nullarbor region, 250,000 years ago.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peter Schouten, Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Tree-kangaroos from the Treeless Plain</h2>
<p>In 2002, a team of explorers found three new caves in the middle of the arid Nullarbor Plain of south-central Australia. The cave floors were littered with the bones of the extinct marsupial “lion” <em>Thylacoleo carnifex</em> and short-faced kangaroos, as well as those of several mammals, birds and reptiles that still live in drier parts of Australia.</p>
<p>Given the high diversity of herbivores, we <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/nature05471">concluded</a> the Nullarbor had to have been more than just arid shrubland some 200–400 thousand years ago, even if it was still very dry. This is because a few shrubs would not have been enough for such a range of herbivores to live on.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-found-out-when-the-nullarbor-plain-dried-out-splitting-australias-ecosystems-in-half-203052">We found out when the Nullarbor Plain dried out, splitting Australia's ecosystems in half</a>
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<p>In this light, it was hard to believe when we discovered partial skeletons of two new species of giant tree-kangaroo in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1671/0272-4634(2008)28%5b463:ANPTDM%5d2.0.CO;2">2008</a> and <a href="https://doi.org/10.18195/issn.0312-3162.25(2).2009.165-179">2009</a>. They belong to the extinct genus <em>Bohra</em>, first named in 1982 on the basis of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/AM82010">leg bones found in the Wellington Caves</a> in New South Wales.</p>
<p>Like the picture on a jigsaw box, we used the Nullarbor skeletons as a guide to search for isolated pieces in museum collections. We discovered more than 100 teeth and bones belonging to a total of at least seven species of extinct tree-kangaroos.</p>
<p>These come from fossil sites extending from southern Victoria to central Australia to the New Guinea highlands, and range in age from 3.5 million (late Pliocene) to a few hundred thousand years old (middle Pleistocene).</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Side by side image of two similar looking skulls" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527324/original/file-20230519-21-9zk2gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527324/original/file-20230519-21-9zk2gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527324/original/file-20230519-21-9zk2gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527324/original/file-20230519-21-9zk2gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=296&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527324/original/file-20230519-21-9zk2gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527324/original/file-20230519-21-9zk2gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527324/original/file-20230519-21-9zk2gg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=372&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Skull of the extinct <em>Bohra illuminata</em> alongside that of a modern tree-kangaroo (scaled to same length).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A big leap forwards – and then upwards</h2>
<p>Anatomical and molecular evidence shows that, among living marsupials, kangaroos are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1093/sysbio/syx076">most closely related to possums</a>. No one is sure exactly when the kangaroo ancestor made the descent to the forest floor, due to big gaps in the Australian fossil record.</p>
<p>Similarly, we do not know whether the distinctive “bipedal” hopping mode of locomotion originated in the trees or on the ground – but we do know it became the enduring hallmark of the kangaroo family. They have longer hind legs and longer feet than their possum ancestors, and the foot bones lock together in such a way as to limit sideways foot movement.</p>
<p>Combined with high tendon elasticity and a large muscular tail, these adaptations make kangaroos among the most <a href="https://doi.org/10.1242/jeb.161661">energy-efficient</a> movers on the planet.</p>
<p>The foot bones of tree-kangaroos reveal three stages in the evolutionary “reversal” of these adaptations. Pliocene species of <em>Bohra</em> evolved a broader heel bone and upper ankle joint, allowing them greater mobility. Later, Pleistocene species of <em>Bohra</em> evolved a smoother joint at the front of that heel bone, giving them the ability to roll the soles of their feet inward to wrap around tree trunks and limbs.</p>
<p>As well as shorter feet, modern tree-kangaroos (<em>Dendrolagus</em>) have shorter hindlimbs, in conjunction with powerful forelimbs and claws for grasping and climbing. They can even walk with their hind legs while climbing, whereas ground-dwelling kangaroos only move their hind legs alternately while swimming.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Diagram of a shorter, more splayed foot skeleton and a longer, more focused one" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527327/original/file-20230519-21-yaf53y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/527327/original/file-20230519-21-yaf53y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527327/original/file-20230519-21-yaf53y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527327/original/file-20230519-21-yaf53y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=447&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527327/original/file-20230519-21-yaf53y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527327/original/file-20230519-21-yaf53y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/527327/original/file-20230519-21-yaf53y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=562&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Comparison of tree-kangaroo (Dendrolagus) and grey kangaroo (Macropus) foot bones.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Why return to the trees?</h2>
<p>As Australia dried out over the past 10 million years, more open vegetation became widespread. This trend was interrupted by a greenhouse phase 5–3.5 million years ago. We speculate that the temporary expansion of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1520188113">forest habitats</a> during this period would have opened new ecological niches that early tree-kangaroos evolved to exploit. </p>
<p>By the time climatic drying returned, tree-kangaroos had become established members of the Australian fauna, with species adapting to expanding woodland and savannah habitats.</p>
<p>As some larger monkeys do today, species of <em>Bohra</em> probably divided their time between living in trees and on the ground, whereas modern tree-kangaroos spend most of their time in the canopy.</p>
<p>So, although we might now think of tree-kangaroos as quintessential rainforest animals, this is because the <em>Bohra</em> species that lived in other habitats have become extinct.</p>
<p>Despite everything we can learn about evolution from studies of modern species, the fossil record holds the potential to flip the script with one discovery. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/an-exciting-possibility-scientists-discover-markedly-different-kangaroos-on-either-side-of-australias-dingo-fence-206752">'An exciting possibility': scientists discover markedly different kangaroos on either side of Australia's dingo fence</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/205759/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gavin Prideaux is a palaeontologist at Flinders University, and receives research grant funding from the Australian Research Council, Australia Pacific Science Foundation, Hermon Slade Foundation, National Geographic and Australian Geographic.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Natalie Warburton receives funding from Australia Pacific Science Foundation and has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council. She is a researcher in the Harry Butler Institute at Murdoch University, a Research Associate of the Western Australian Museum and the current Vice President of the Australian Mammal Society.</span></em></p>The ancestors of kangaroos once lived in the trees – but their evolutionary history is murky. Here’s everything we know so far.Gavin Prideaux, Professor, Flinders UniversityNatalie Warburton, Associate Professor in Anatomy, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2064922023-05-30T23:01:55Z2023-05-30T23:01:55ZNewly described enormous marsupial wandered great distances across Australia 3.5 million years ago<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529010/original/file-20230530-25-p0dr9l.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=440%2C579%2C2160%2C1342&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jacob van Zoelen</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Today, 80% of Australia is arid, but it was not always that way. In the early Pliocene, 5.4 to 3.6 million years ago, Australia had a greenhouse climate, widespread forests and diverse marsupial animals.</p>
<p>As the climate dried out in the late Pliocene, open woodland, grassland and shrubland spread across Australia. How did large marsupials cope with these changes?</p>
<p>In 2017, Flinders University researchers uncovered a skeleton eroding from a cliff face on the Warburton River, at the Australian Wildlife Conservancy’s Kalamurina Station in northern South Australia.</p>
<p>The skeleton belongs to a species in the family <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diprotodontidae">Diprotodontidae</a> – a group of four-legged herbivores that were the largest marsupials to ever exist. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528789/original/file-20230529-29-wug34x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Photo of a rust coloured rock face and a map of Australia above it" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528789/original/file-20230529-29-wug34x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528789/original/file-20230529-29-wug34x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528789/original/file-20230529-29-wug34x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528789/original/file-20230529-29-wug34x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528789/original/file-20230529-29-wug34x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1263&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528789/original/file-20230529-29-wug34x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1263&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528789/original/file-20230529-29-wug34x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1263&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Map of fossil deposits where the species was found (A & B). Close up of the Main Body of the Tirari Formation as exposed at Keekalanna East with some elements in situ (C).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Aaron Camens</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a new study <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1098/rsos.230211">published in Royal Society Open Science today</a>, we describe this fossil finding in detail, providing new insights into how the animal lived and moved.</p>
<h2>Exceptional preservation</h2>
<p>Wombats are the closest living relatives of diprotodontids, but the two are as distantly related as kangaroos are to possums. As a result, palaeontologists have had a hard time reconstructing these large, long-gone animals, especially since most diprotodontid species have been described mainly from jaws and teeth.</p>
<p>But the common, widespread nature of diprotodontid remains indicates they were an integral part of Australian ecosystems until the last species, including the rhino-sized <em>Diprotodon optatum</em>, became extinct about 40,000 years ago. </p>
<p>It is rare to find multiple bones belonging to a single skeleton in the fossil record. Only a handful of studies have described parts of the limbs of a post-Miocene diprotodontid. As such, the newly described skeleton is of great importance and is even more special, as it is the first to be found with associated soft tissue structures. </p>
<p>We also compared the specimen to more than 2,000 diprotodontid elements from museums across the globe, making this the most comprehensive appraisal of a diprotodontid skeleton to date.</p>
<p>Our comparisons revealed the skeleton belongs to a new genus we named <em>Ambulator</em>, meaning walker or wanderer. We chose this name because the locomotory adaptations of the legs and feet of this quarter-tonne animal would have made it well suited to roaming long distances in search of food and water, especially when compared to earlier relatives.</p>
<p>We 3D-scanned the specimen, and the files are freely available for anyone <a href="https://www.morphosource.org/projects/000497863?locale=en">to download and look at online</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529005/original/file-20230530-23-d5un5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A black silhouette of a rhino like animal with bones overlaid in several places" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529005/original/file-20230530-23-d5un5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529005/original/file-20230530-23-d5un5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529005/original/file-20230530-23-d5un5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529005/original/file-20230530-23-d5un5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529005/original/file-20230530-23-d5un5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529005/original/file-20230530-23-d5un5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529005/original/file-20230530-23-d5un5v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reassembled partial skeleton of <em>Ambulator keanei</em>, with a silhouette demonstrating advanced adaptations for its style of walking.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jacob van Zoelen</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/giant-marsupials-once-migrated-across-an-australian-ice-age-landscape-84762">Giant marsupials once migrated across an Australian Ice Age landscape</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Walking marsupials</h2>
<p>We don’t often think of walking as a special skill – but when you’re big, any movement can be energetically costly, so efficiency is key. </p>
<p>Most large herbivores today, such as elephants and rhinoceroses, are unguligrade, meaning they walk on the tips of their toes, with their wrists or ankles not touching the ground.</p>
<p>Diprotodontids are what we call <a href="https://www.britannica.com/animal/mammal/Locomotion#ref193762">plantigrade</a>, meaning their heel-bone contacts the ground when they walk – similar to human feet. This stance helps distribute weight and reduces energy loss when walking, but uses more energy for other activities such as running.</p>
<p>Many diprotodontids also have so-called extreme plantigrady in their hands – a wrist bone modified into a secondary heel. This “heeled hand” made early reconstructions of these animals look bizarre and awkward.</p>
<p>Development of the wrist and ankle for weight-bearing meant the digits became essentially functionless and likely did not make contact with the ground while walking. This may be why no finger or toe impressions are observed in the trackways of diprotodontids.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528986/original/file-20230530-24-a8jbqg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=38%2C72%2C2517%2C1716&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A grey rock with shallow, oddly shaped footprints" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528986/original/file-20230530-24-a8jbqg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=38%2C72%2C2517%2C1716&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/528986/original/file-20230530-24-a8jbqg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528986/original/file-20230530-24-a8jbqg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528986/original/file-20230530-24-a8jbqg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528986/original/file-20230530-24-a8jbqg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528986/original/file-20230530-24-a8jbqg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/528986/original/file-20230530-24-a8jbqg.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Hand and foot impression of <em>Diprotodon optatum</em> – with no sign of digits.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Aaron Camens</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Climbers, walkers and grabbers</h2>
<p>Diprotodontids have limb-bone shapes that can be grouped into three main types. There are those adapted to tree climbing, such as <a href="https://theconversation.com/fossils-reveal-australias-tree-top-heavyweight-herbivore-10888"><em>Nimbadon lavarackorum</em></a> and <em>Ngapakaldia tedfordi</em>; and those adapted to more efficient locomotion and travelling great distances, such as <em>Diprotodon optatum</em> and <em>Ambulator keanei</em> (we call these “walkers”).</p>
<p>There are also diprotodontids that were terrestrial and probably could not climb. However, unlike the walkers, their forelimbs were not as specialised for walking and were able to perform a range of functions. These were “grabbers” such as <em>Neohelos stirtoni</em>, and likely <em>Kolopsis torus</em> and <em>Plaisiodon centralis</em>.</p>
<p>Walkers do not show up in the fossil record until we get to the Pliocene (3.5 million years ago). In fact, <em>A. keanei</em> is the earliest diprotodontid we know of that had these specialised walking adaptations.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529022/original/file-20230530-25-d332p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A chart showing skeleton bones in three orientations" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529022/original/file-20230530-25-d332p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/529022/original/file-20230530-25-d332p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529022/original/file-20230530-25-d332p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529022/original/file-20230530-25-d332p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=340&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529022/original/file-20230530-25-d332p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529022/original/file-20230530-25-d332p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/529022/original/file-20230530-25-d332p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Comparisons of the left hand of three diprotodontids. From left to right a composite hand of: 8 million-year-old Alcoota diprotodontid, a grabber; 3.5 million-year-old <em>A. keanei</em>, a walker; and 50 thousand-year-old <em>Diprotodon optatum</em>, also a walker.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jacob van Zoelen</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During the Pliocene, when <em>A. keanei</em> was around, there was an increase in grasslands and open habitat as Australia became drier. Diprotodontids likely had to travel much greater distances to obtain enough water and their preferred food, which was the soft leaves of shrubs and trees, not grass.</p>
<p>Animals such as <em>Ambulator</em> may have evolved to traverse great distances more efficiently. This may also have allowed diprotodontids to get bigger and support more weight. This would eventually lead to the evolution of the giant and <a href="https://australian.museum/learn/australia-over-time/extinct-animals/diprotodon-optatum/">relatively well-known 2.7 tonne <em>Diprotodon</em></a>. </p>
<p>Unfortunately, we will never get to see great migrating mobs of diprotodontids. But it’s amazing to know such a thing may have once been commonplace across the continent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206492/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jacob van Zoelen received funding from by the Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship (Excellence). Travel to collections was partially funded by the Royal Society of South Australia small grant scheme 2018, the University of California Museum of Paleontology Doris O. and Samuel P. Welles Fund 2019, Flinders University Higher Degree Research International Conference Travel Grant 2019 and the North American Paleontology Conference Student Travel Grant.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gavin Prideaux receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Australia Pacific Science Foundation, Hermon Slade Foundation, Australian Geographic and National Geographic.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aaron Camens does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Having special foot adaptations helped these sizeable animals wander long distances, which meant a better chance to find plentiful food and water.Jacob van Zoelen, PhD Candidate, Flinders UniversityAaron Camens, Lecturer in Palaeontology, Flinders UniversityGavin Prideaux, Professor, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2021462023-03-28T19:21:22Z2023-03-28T19:21:22ZA rare video of wombats having sex sideways offers a glimpse into the bizarre realm of animal reproduction<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517564/original/file-20230327-344-90i7il.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=52%2C22%2C4940%2C3300&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>If you look at where wombats deposit their poo, you realise they must be able to perform some surprising acrobatics. It has always amazed me to see wombat scats on top of grass tussocks or logs, because I’ve always wondered how the stocky creatures must have manoeuvred themselves to put it there. </p>
<p>It turns out these sturdy marsupials also engage in a different kind of acrobatics: we recently received a video from Lyndell Giuliano and Andy Carnahan at Tomboye, New South Wales, who had filmed two wombats in the wild “doing the wild thing”! </p>
<p>While we know it happens, because there are baby wombats replenishing the population over time, it is not often humans get to witness such an event.</p>
<h2>A rare sighting of above-ground intimacy</h2>
<p>Scientists have <a href="https://rep.bioscientifica.com/view/journals/rep/145/6/R157.xml">previously documented wombat sex</a> in some detail. Prior to the observations noted in the review, it was believed to occur underground in the privacy of the burrow, which was presumably the reason why it was rarely observed. </p>
<p>While we still don’t know a lot about what wombats do get up to underground, wombats have been spotted mating above ground in the open! </p>
<p>In this scenario, the male wombat has been described to chase the female wombat, often biting her, and pushing her on to her side, before also laying on his side and mating with her. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-qTKtHwlf6k?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">A rare video of wombats mating, captured at Tomboye in NSW.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In this recorded “rom-com”, it appears only the male is on his side during mating.</p>
<h2>Violence and death</h2>
<p>Other marsupials are also quite aggressive during mating. The Tasmanian devil, probably not unsurprisingly given its name, is particularly aggressive. Males drag females into their den and hold them captive, sometimes for days. </p>
<p>Among the tiny, rodent-like antechinus and phascogales, males are so determined to mate with as many females as they can that it results in a huge surge of stress hormones, leading to complete organ failure, and <a href="https://theconversation.com/doing-it-to-death-suicidal-sex-in-marsupial-mice-18884">subsequently death</a>. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/doing-it-to-death-suicidal-sex-in-marsupial-mice-18884">Doing it to death: suicidal sex in 'marsupial mice'</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>This reproductive strategy, called “semelparity”, also occurs in salmon, and some frogs and lizards – but it is extremely rare among mammals.</p>
<p>And in the insect kingdom, it’s not unheard of for males to die after mating, though the reasons are often quite different.</p>
<p>Female praying mantises attract males and after the event decapitate their male companion and devour them. This cannibalism strategy enables females to produce more eggs. Males that are consumed are provided with a reproductive advantage through potentially increased numbers of offspring. </p>
<p>Male bees (drones) mate with females (queens) in the air. In some species, during the height of the “process”, the end of the male’s barbed endophallus is ejected from his body, and is retained with his sperm inside the queen. His work done, the male subsequently falls from the sky dead. </p>
<h2>Subterfuge and fusion</h2>
<p>Many animals use pheromones, essentially chemical messengers between members of the same species. </p>
<p>Some orchids have taken advantage of these chemicals, <a href="https://theconversation.com/warty-hammer-orchids-are-sexual-deceivers-107805">mimicking</a> the pheromones of female wasps. Male wasps are tricked into thinking they have found their female, and while mating with the flower, become coated in pollen. These wasps subsequently mate with another orchid, thus transferring the pollen, and subsequently the orchid is fertilised.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/warty-hammer-orchids-are-sexual-deceivers-107805">Warty hammer orchids are sexual deceivers</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517572/original/file-20230327-16-ueqfg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A photo of a flower with pink petals and a surprisingly beelike central structure." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517572/original/file-20230327-16-ueqfg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517572/original/file-20230327-16-ueqfg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517572/original/file-20230327-16-ueqfg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517572/original/file-20230327-16-ueqfg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=429&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517572/original/file-20230327-16-ueqfg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517572/original/file-20230327-16-ueqfg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517572/original/file-20230327-16-ueqfg3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=539&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In the same way some orchids imitate wasps, the bee orchid (Ophrys apifera) mimics the appearance and smell of a female bee to trick males into trying to mate with it.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=48715235">Bernard Dupont / Wikimedia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>There are some even more bizarre mating encounters in the animal world. The female deep sea angler fish allows the male to fuse with her, and sometimes even more than one male will fuse to the same female. </p>
<p>In return for sperm, the male anglerfish obtains nutrients from the female via their fused circulatory system. A truly “until death do us part” relationship.</p>
<h2>Survival of the quickest</h2>
<p>Among marsupials, some species (polyprotodonts) give birth to many more young than they can support. These so-called “supernumerary” young then race to reach a teat first, in what is essentially survival of the fittest. </p>
<p>The maximum number of young able to survive is therefore determined by the maximum number of teats. </p>
<p>Virginian opossums have 13 teats and can give birth to up to 56 young (although the average is more like 21), thus many newborns die shortly after birth, unable to find and attach to a teat. Tasmanian devils likewise produce an average of 39 young, but only have four teats, thus the maximum surviving litter size for devils is four. </p>
<p>Wombats are not polyprotodonts and only have two teats. However they usually only have one joey at a time.</p>
<h2>Surprising organs</h2>
<p>Much can be said for the phalluses of the animal world. None more so than <a href="https://pursuit.unimelb.edu.au/articles/solving-the-mystery-of-the-four-headed-echidna-penis">echidna penises</a> with their four heads, of which they only ever use two at a time. </p>
<p>Sharks likewise have two claspers, extensions of the pelvic fins which support internal fertilisation, of which they only utilise one during mating. Whale penises have been said to have been mistaken for deep sea monsters, or perhaps kraken tentacles, observed wrestling with their whale prey. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="An echidna" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517580/original/file-20230327-20-7zzwfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/517580/original/file-20230327-20-7zzwfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517580/original/file-20230327-20-7zzwfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517580/original/file-20230327-20-7zzwfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517580/original/file-20230327-20-7zzwfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517580/original/file-20230327-20-7zzwfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/517580/original/file-20230327-20-7zzwfq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=517&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Male echidnas have a four-headed penis, while females have two uteruses.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Not to be outdone by the males, female marsupials have three vaginas and two uteruses. Two of the three vaginas are used for reproduction to allow sperm to travel up to fertilise the eggs. The third vagina, located between the other two, is for giving birth. </p>
<p>Female platypuses and echidnas have two uteruses and two ovaries. However, in platypus, only the left ovary is functional, and thus they only use one side of their reproductive tract for producing young. </p>
<h2>Back to the wombats</h2>
<p>As we have seen, there are a broad range of strategies animals use to produce young. Some reproductive strategies we are familiar with, others are deadly. </p>
<p>It puts the wombat video in perspective: our correspondents report the creatures walked away unharmed from the scenario, albeit with some love bites. At least everybody survived.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202146/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Death by exhaustion, cannibalism, complete body fusion: across the animal kingdom, mating takes many strange forms.Julie Old, Associate Professor, Biology, Zoology, Animal Science, Western Sydney UniversityHayley Stannard, Senior lecturer, Charles Sturt UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2021522023-03-24T19:20:10Z2023-03-24T19:20:10ZMarsupials and other mammals separately evolved flight many times, and we are finally learning how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516876/original/file-20230322-174-mlvqar.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1818%2C745%2C3145%2C2031&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Anom Harya/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/4324-shoot-for-the-moon-even-if-you-miss-you-ll-land">Shoot for the moon</a>. Even if you miss, you’ll land on the next tree. Many groups of mammals seem to have taken this evolutionary advice to heart. According to our <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/sciadv.ade7511">newly published paper in Science Advances</a>, unrelated animals may even have used the same blueprints for building their “wings”.</p>
<p>While birds are the undisputed champions of the sky, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cub.2015.08.003">having mastered flight during the Jurassic</a>, mammals have actually evolved flight more often than birds. In fact, as many as seven different groups of mammals living today have <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/evo.14094">taken to the air independently of each other</a>.</p>
<p>These evolutionary experiments happened in animals scattered all across the mammalian family tree – including flying squirrels, marsupial possums and the colugo (cousin of the primates). But they all have something in common. It’s a special skin structure between their limbs called a patagium, or flight membrane. </p>
<p>The fact these similar structures have arisen so many times (a process called <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rstb.2019.0102">convergent evolution</a>) hints that the genetic underpinnings of patagia might predate flight. Indeed, they could be shared by all mammals, even those living on the ground. </p>
<p>If this is true, studying patagia can help us to better understand the incredible adaptability of mammals. We might also discover previously unknown aspects of human genetics.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516879/original/file-20230322-18-nf6b9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A cute grey and cream striped animal on a tree branch with distinctive skin folds visible on its side" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516879/original/file-20230322-18-nf6b9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516879/original/file-20230322-18-nf6b9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516879/original/file-20230322-18-nf6b9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516879/original/file-20230322-18-nf6b9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=498&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516879/original/file-20230322-18-nf6b9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=626&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516879/original/file-20230322-18-nf6b9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=626&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516879/original/file-20230322-18-nf6b9f.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=626&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sugar gliders are one of several mammals that have independently evolved the ability to fly through the air.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">apiguide/Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A deceptively simple membrane</h2>
<p>Despite being seemingly simple skin structures, patagia contain several tissues, including hair, a rich array of <a href="https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1018740108">touch-sensitive neurons</a>, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO9870101"></a><a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/ncomms2298">connective tissue and even thin sheets of muscle</a>. But in the earliest stages of formation, these membranes are dominated by the two main layers of the skin: the inner dermis and outer epidermis.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516542/original/file-20230321-22-8mhzbz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A pink baby animal looking much like an embryo with a red arrow pointing at a thin membrane it its armpit" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516542/original/file-20230321-22-8mhzbz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516542/original/file-20230321-22-8mhzbz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516542/original/file-20230321-22-8mhzbz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516542/original/file-20230321-22-8mhzbz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=780&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516542/original/file-20230321-22-8mhzbz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=980&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516542/original/file-20230321-22-8mhzbz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=980&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516542/original/file-20230321-22-8mhzbz.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=980&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The patagium in sugar gliders (red arrow) forms after birth when the newborn, or joey, is in its marsupial mother’s pouch.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Charles Feigin</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>At first, they hardly differ from neighbouring skin. But at some point, the skin on the animal’s sides starts to rapidly change, or differentiate. The dermis undergoes a process called condensation, where cells bunch up and the tissue becomes very dense. Meanwhile, the epidermis thickens in a process called hyperplasia.</p>
<p>In some mammals, this differentiation happens when they are still an embryo in the uterus. Incredibly though, in our main model species – the marsupial sugar glider (<em><a href="https://australian.museum/learn/animals/mammals/sugar-glider/">Petaurus breviceps</a></em>) – this process begins after birth, while they are in the mother’s pouch. This provides us with an incredible window into patagium formation.</p>
<p>Starting with the sugar glider, we examined the behaviours of thousands of genes active during the early development of the patagium, to try and figure out how this chain of events is kicked off.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/a-rare-discovery-we-found-the-sugar-glider-is-actually-three-species-but-one-is-disappearing-fast-142807">A rare discovery: we found the sugar glider is actually three species, but one is disappearing fast</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>From gliders to bats</h2>
<p>We discovered that levels of a gene called Wnt5a are strongly correlated with the onset of those early skin changes – condensation and hyperplasia. Through a series of experiments involving cultured skin tissues and genetically engineered laboratory mice, we showed that adding extra Wnt5a was all it took to drive both of these early hallmarks of patagium formation.</p>
<p>Interestingly, when we extended our work to bats, we found extremely similar patterns of Wnt5a activity in their developing lateral patagia to that in sugar gliders. This was surprising, since bats (placental mammals) last shared a common ancestor with the marsupial sugar glider around 160 million years ago.</p>
<p>Perhaps even more remarkably, we found a nearly identical pattern in the outer ear (or pinna) of lab mice. The pinna is a nearly universal trait among mammals, including innumerable species with no flying ancestry. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="A dark bat with an upturned nose with its wings spread out" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516878/original/file-20230322-22-kkqk3x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516878/original/file-20230322-22-kkqk3x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516878/original/file-20230322-22-kkqk3x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516878/original/file-20230322-22-kkqk3x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516878/original/file-20230322-22-kkqk3x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516878/original/file-20230322-22-kkqk3x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/516878/original/file-20230322-22-kkqk3x.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=663&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Seba’s short-tailed bat has a lateral patagium (connected to the flank of the body) activated by Wnt5a.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.inaturalist.org/observations/110870566">Irineu Cunha/iNaturalist</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A molecular toolkit</h2>
<p>Together, these results suggest something profound. Wnt5a’s role in ushering in the skin changes needed for a patagium likely evolved long before the first mammal ever took to the air.</p>
<p>Originally, the gene had nothing to do with flight, instead contributing to the development of seemingly unrelated traits. But because of shared ancestry, most living mammals today inherited this Wnt5a-driven program. When species like gliders and bats started on their separate journeys into the air, they did so with a common “molecular toolkit”.</p>
<p>Not only that, but this same toolkit is likely present in humans and working in ways we don’t fully understand yet.</p>
<p>There are definite limits to our recent work. First, we haven’t made a flying mouse. This may sound like a joke, but demonstrates we still don’t fully understand how a region of dense, thick skin becomes a thin and wide flight membrane. Many more genes with unknown roles are bound to be involved.</p>
<p>Second, while we’ve shown a cause-and-effect relationship between Wnt5a and patagium skin differentiation, we don’t know precisely how Wnt5a does it. Moving forward, we hope to fill in these gaps by broadening the horizons of our cross-species comparisons and by conducting more in-depth molecular studies on patagium formation in sugar gliders.</p>
<p>For now though, our study presents an exciting new view of flight in mammals. We may not be the strongest fliers, but trying is in our DNA.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/mysterious-poles-make-road-crossing-easier-for-high-flying-mammals-11323">Mysterious poles make road crossing easier for high flying mammals</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202152/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Charles Feigin has received fellowship funding from the National Institutes of Health National Institute of General Medical Sciences </span></em></p>Mammals have evolved flight more often than birds. By studying the genes of the sugar glider, biologists have found a ‘molecular toolkit’ for flight membranes that’s been in us all along.Charles Feigin, Postdoctoral Fellow in Genomics and Evolution, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2002622023-03-21T21:56:56Z2023-03-21T21:56:56Z25-million-year-old fossils of a bizarre possum and strange wombat relative reveal Australia’s hidden past<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/516251/original/file-20230320-28-1jgitk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=27%2C129%2C6065%2C3388&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Relative of _Chunia pledgei_ named _Ektopodon serratus_ (top left), with _Wakaleo oldfieldi_.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reconstruction of the early Miocene Kutjumarpu faunal assemblage by Peter Schouten</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Imagine a vast, lush forest dominated by giant flightless birds and crocodiles. This was Australia’s Red Centre 25 million years ago. There lived several species of koala; early kangaroos the size of possums; and the wombat-sized ancestors of the largest-ever marsupial, <em><a href="https://theconversation.com/giant-marsupials-once-migrated-across-an-australian-ice-age-landscape-84762">Diprotodon optatum</a></em> (around 2.5 tonnes).</p>
<p>A window onto this ancient time is provided by a little-studied fossil site near Pwerte Marnte Marnte, south of Alice Springs in central Australia. This late Oligocene site yielded the earliest-known fossils of marsupials that look similar to modern ones, as well as fossils from wholly extinct groups such as the enigmatic ilariids, which were something like a koala crossed with a wombat.</p>
<p>While excavating this site from 2014 to 2022, Flinders University palaeontologists have found fossils from many more wonderful animals. In a pair of recently published studies, we name two of these species: a <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03115518.2023.2181397">strange wombat relative</a> and an <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2023.2171299">even odder possum</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512615/original/file-20230228-2325-bo35k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A dry orange landscape with small shrubs and a group of people sifting through rocks in the foreground" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512615/original/file-20230228-2325-bo35k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512615/original/file-20230228-2325-bo35k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512615/original/file-20230228-2325-bo35k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512615/original/file-20230228-2325-bo35k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512615/original/file-20230228-2325-bo35k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512615/original/file-20230228-2325-bo35k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512615/original/file-20230228-2325-bo35k9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Flinders University palaeontologists at Pwerte Marnte Marnte fossil site.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Arthur Crichton</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A toothy wombat</h2>
<p>We discovered 35 specimens, including a partial skull and several lower jaws, from an animal that would have looked a bit like a modern wombat crossed with a marsupial lion (<a href="https://australian.museum/learn/animals/mammals/thylacoleo-carnifex/"><em>Thylacoleo carnifex</em></a>).</p>
<p>Weighing in at around 50kg, it was among the largest marsupials of its time. We named it <em>Mukupirna fortidentata</em>.</p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512810/original/file-20230301-21-3x3i35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two isolated photos of a similarly shaped bone with large protruding teeth at the front" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512810/original/file-20230301-21-3x3i35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512810/original/file-20230301-21-3x3i35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512810/original/file-20230301-21-3x3i35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512810/original/file-20230301-21-3x3i35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=523&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512810/original/file-20230301-21-3x3i35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=658&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512810/original/file-20230301-21-3x3i35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=658&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512810/original/file-20230301-21-3x3i35.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=658&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Left lower jaw of <em>Mukupirna fortidentata</em> compared with that of the southern hairy-nosed wombat.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Arthur Crichton</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Everything about its skull and jaws shows this animal had a pretty powerful bite. Its front teeth, for example, were large and spike-shaped, being more like those of squirrels than wombats. These would have enabled them to fracture hard foods, like tough fruits, seeds, nuts and tubers. Its molars, by comparison, were actually quite similar to those of some monkeys, such as macaques.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/03115518.2023.2181397"><em>Mukupirna fortidentata</em></a> is only the second known member of a new family of marsupials <a href="https://theconversation.com/meet-the-giant-wombat-relative-that-scratched-out-a-living-in-australia-25-million-years-ago-141296">described in 2020</a> called Mukupirnidae. These animals are thought to have diverged from a common ancestor with wombats over 25 million years ago. Sadly, they went extinct shortly thereafter.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513450/original/file-20230304-20-xrm8ro.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Illustration of a flat landscape with an odd, grey wombat-like animal with slender legs standing by a pond" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513450/original/file-20230304-20-xrm8ro.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/513450/original/file-20230304-20-xrm8ro.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513450/original/file-20230304-20-xrm8ro.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513450/original/file-20230304-20-xrm8ro.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=453&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513450/original/file-20230304-20-xrm8ro.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513450/original/file-20230304-20-xrm8ro.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/513450/original/file-20230304-20-xrm8ro.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=570&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Close relative of <em>Mukupirna fortidentata</em> named <em>Mukupirna nambensis</em>.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reconstruction of the Pinpa faunal assemblage by Peter Schouten</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A nutcracker possum</h2>
<p>The second species we described is a newly discovered early possum, named <em><a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/02724634.2023.2171299">Chunia pledgei</a></em>. It had teeth that would be a dentist’s nightmare, with lots of bladed points (cusps) positioned side by side, like lines on a barcode. This tooth shape is characteristic of species in the poorly known, extinct possum family called Ektopodontidae.</p>
<p>The new species is unusual in that it has pyramid-shaped cusps on its front molars. These might have been useful for puncture-crushing hard foods — a bit like a nutcracker.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512815/original/file-20230301-16-xdhza.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Fragmented yellow bone with strange serrated-looking teeth along the top" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512815/original/file-20230301-16-xdhza.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/512815/original/file-20230301-16-xdhza.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512815/original/file-20230301-16-xdhza.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512815/original/file-20230301-16-xdhza.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512815/original/file-20230301-16-xdhza.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512815/original/file-20230301-16-xdhza.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/512815/original/file-20230301-16-xdhza.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"><em>Chunia pledgei</em> cheek teeth preserved in right lower jaw.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Arthur Crichton</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>So what did ektopodontids eat? We don’t really know for sure – there’s no animal like them alive today anywhere in the world. Based on aspects of their molar morphology, we infer they were probably eating fruits and seeds or nuts. But they may have been doing something totally different!</p>
<p>Unfortunately, ektopodontids are tantalisingly rare in the fossil record, known only from isolated teeth and several partial jaws. The fossils show they had a lemur-like short face, with particularly large, <a href="https://museumsvictoria.com.au/media/4250/173-187_mmv74_pledge_3_web.pdf">forward-facing eyes</a>. But until we find more complete skeletal material, their ecology will likely remain mysterious.</p>
<p>What remains astonishing is just how little we know about the origins of Australia’s living animals, owing in no small part to a 30-million-year gap in the fossil record – half the time between now and the extinction of the dinosaurs. </p>
<p>At the same time, it’s inspiring to think about the countless strange and fascinating animals that must have once lived on this continent. Fossil evidence of these creatures may still be sitting somewhere in the outback, waiting to be discovered.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-bilby-and-bandicoot-fossils-shed-light-on-the-mystery-of-marsupial-evolution-159437">Ancient bilby and bandicoot fossils shed light on the mystery of marsupial evolution</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/200262/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gavin Prideaux has received funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aaron Camens and Arthur Immanuel Crichton do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Australia’s Red Centre was once a lush forest filled with strange creatures – and we are slowly discovering more about this enigmatic past.Arthur Immanuel Crichton, PhD candidate, Flinders UniversityAaron Camens, Lecturer in Palaeontology, Flinders UniversityGavin Prideaux, Associate professor, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1960372022-12-12T19:03:07Z2022-12-12T19:03:07ZFor the first time ever, we have a complete skull description of a true fossil giant wombat<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499905/original/file-20221209-16432-imxwza.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C127%2C3848%2C2644&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ramsayia reconstruction (r) next to a modern wombat.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Eleanor Pease</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The place we call Australia today was in many ways vastly different 80,000 years ago.</p>
<p>Perhaps nowhere is this more evident than in the animals that would have roamed the plains and inhabited the forests of the continent. Huge marsupials ruled the land, including giant kangaroos, giant koalas and giant wombats.</p>
<p>In a study published today in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1002/spp2.1475">Papers in Palaeontology</a>, we describe the <a href="https://www.morphosource.org/projects/000455063">most complete skull</a> of one of these giant wombats, a hitherto poorly known species called <em>Ramsayia magna</em>. This marsupial bore more than a passing resemblance to a giant beaver crossed with a modern hairy-nosed wombat.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499413/original/file-20221207-16-c8k11w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Drawing of a brown, stumpy animal with dog-like ears and a very large snout" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499413/original/file-20221207-16-c8k11w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499413/original/file-20221207-16-c8k11w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499413/original/file-20221207-16-c8k11w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499413/original/file-20221207-16-c8k11w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=443&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499413/original/file-20221207-16-c8k11w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499413/original/file-20221207-16-c8k11w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499413/original/file-20221207-16-c8k11w.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=557&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Reconstruction of <em>Ramsayia magna</em>.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Eleanor Pease</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A wombat impostor and a unique skull</h2>
<p>Among the charismatic megafauna of Australia, perhaps the best known is the giant marsupial <em>Diprotodon</em>, often referred to as the “giant wombat”. </p>
<p>Contrary to what this moniker suggests, however, <em>Diprotodon</em> is not a wombat at all. Rather, it belongs to a family as distinct from wombats as hippos are from pigs, or as we are from monkeys.</p>
<p>Nevertheless, “true” giant wombats are known from Australia – <em>Phascolonus</em>, the largest, <em>Sedophascolomys</em>, the smallest, and finally <em>Ramsayia</em>, the rarest (roughly cow, goat and sheep-sized, respectively). <em>Ramsayia</em> was previously only known from isolated tooth and jaw fragments.</p>
<p>In the caves of Mount Etna just outside Rockhampton in Queensland, we uncovered a fossil that turned out to represent the most complete remains of this animal ever found. Our detailed anatomical study of this remarkable new specimen revealed what the animal looked like, its unique adaptations to grazing, and the evolutionary history of the giant wombats.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499412/original/file-20221207-16-gs1utb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Dark photograph of a person in yellow shirt crouching next to rocks in a cave with a headlight on" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499412/original/file-20221207-16-gs1utb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499412/original/file-20221207-16-gs1utb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499412/original/file-20221207-16-gs1utb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499412/original/file-20221207-16-gs1utb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499412/original/file-20221207-16-gs1utb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499412/original/file-20221207-16-gs1utb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499412/original/file-20221207-16-gs1utb.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The skull of the giant wombat was found in the caves of Mt Etna, Rockhampton.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julien Louys</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Air pockets in the skull</h2>
<p>One of the first things we noted about <em>Ramsayia</em> was that the back of its skull preserved evidence of air pockets or sinuses not found in modern wombats.</p>
<p>These sinuses develop for two primary reasons. The outside of a mammal’s skull sometimes grows at a different pace to the brain cavity and the bones that directly surround it. While an animal (and its skull) can reach enormous sizes, its brain size may lag behind; a very large animal doesn’t always need a much larger brain than its smaller relatives.</p>
<p>To accommodate a huge skull and moderately sized brain without adding too much weight, sinuses develop – air cavities supported by bony struts. A larger skull with sinuses also provides more surface area for the attachment of larger chewing muscles, letting the animal process much tougher or poorer-quality foods than smaller species.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499416/original/file-20221207-3971-29psdd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Yellow crumbly-looking bone fragments on a white surface, roughly making out the shape of a skull" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499416/original/file-20221207-3971-29psdd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499416/original/file-20221207-3971-29psdd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499416/original/file-20221207-3971-29psdd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499416/original/file-20221207-3971-29psdd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499416/original/file-20221207-3971-29psdd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499416/original/file-20221207-3971-29psdd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499416/original/file-20221207-3971-29psdd.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">View of the inside of the skull of <em>Ramsayia</em>, showing the development of sinuses in the back of the skull (top right of image) and the distinct ‘premaxillary spine’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Louys et al., 2022)</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Although these sinuses have been found in <a href="https://museumsvictoria.com.au/collections-research/journals/memoirs-of-museum-victoria/volume-74-2016/pages-331-342/">other extinct giant marsupials</a>, this is the first time they’ve been recorded in any wombat species.</p>
<p>They would have given <em>Ramsayia</em> a more rounded head than modern wombats, who have famously flat skulls that may be an adaptation to their underground lifestyle. This could mean <em>Ramsayia</em> did not live in burrows like wombats do today.</p>
<p>Interestingly, cranial material for another giant wombat, <em>Phascolonus</em>, (known for decades but still not studied in detail) suggests the top of its head was “<a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phascolonus#/media/File:Phascolonus.jpg">dished-in</a>”. This would indicate that like modern wombats, <em>Phascolonus</em> did not develop these sinuses and they may be unique to <em>Ramsayia</em>.</p>
<h2>A sizeable snout</h2>
<p>The second major feature we noted was the development of a vertical bony spine where most other marsupials have elongated, horizontal nasal bones.</p>
<p>Called a “premaxillary spine”, it most likely developed to provide structural support for a large fleshy nose: not quite a trunk, but certainly a sizeable nasal appendage. In this regard, as well as in the highly curved shape of its gape (the diastema) and incisors, it closely resembles <em>Diprotodon</em>, as well as giant fossil beavers found in America and Eurasia.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499890/original/file-20221208-12502-ac25om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A museum exhibit showing a bear-like animal with a fleshy, large nose" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499890/original/file-20221208-12502-ac25om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/499890/original/file-20221208-12502-ac25om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499890/original/file-20221208-12502-ac25om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499890/original/file-20221208-12502-ac25om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499890/original/file-20221208-12502-ac25om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499890/original/file-20221208-12502-ac25om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/499890/original/file-20221208-12502-ac25om.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=563&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Diprotodon, often incorrectly called the ‘giant wombat’ showing its large, fleshy nose.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julien Louys</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Using the features preserved in the skull of <em>Ramsayia</em>, we compared it to other wombats and wombat-like creatures, to better understand the evolution of giant wombats.</p>
<p>One interesting finding was that all three giant wombats – <em>Phascolonus</em>, <em>Sedophascolomys</em>, and <em>Ramsayia</em> – are more closely related to each other than they are to other extinct and modern wombats. This indicates that gigantism in wombats evolved only once and early in their evolutionary history.</p>
<p>A trend to gigantism was likely in response to the gradual drying out of the Australian continent that started about 20 million years ago and the need to process poorer quality food such as grasses – harder to ingest than leaves and fruits. </p>
<h2>A mysterious extinction</h2>
<p>To find out the age of the specimen, we used a combination of dating methods known as uranium series and <a href="https://www.spectroscopyeurope.com/component/content/article/3328-dating-fossil-teeth-by-electron-paramagnetic-resonance-how-is-that-possible">electron spin resonance</a>. These techniques allow us to date beyond the radiocarbon dating window of around 50,000 years.</p>
<p>Our results indicate this individual lived approximately 80,000 years ago in the Rockhampton region. We also found traces of this species even farther north, towards the Chillagoe area. This shows <em>Ramsayia</em> inhabited temperate to tropical grasslands of ancient Australia.</p>
<p>What caused its final extinction? <a href="https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/10.1098/rspb.2002.2130">While some have argued</a> the species was wiped out by the arrival of humans, the truth is we don’t yet have enough data to be able to say.</p>
<p>Our paper provides the first ages for this species, and important insights into what it looked like and how it lived. But many more records will be needed to best determine why this giant wombat is no longer with us today.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>We thank Eleanor Pease and Ian Sobbe who also contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/196037/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julien Louys receives funding from the Australian Research Council and the National Geographic Society. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gilbert Price receives funding from the Australian Research Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Mathieu Duval receives funding from the Spanish State Research Agency (AEI). He works as a Senior Research Fellow for the National Research Centre on Human Evolution (CENIEH), Burgos, Spain. He is also Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at the Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution (ARCHE), Griffith University, Brisbane, Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Robin Beck receives funding from the UK's National Environmental Research Council.</span></em></p>80,000 years ago, Australia’s landscape was dominated by much larger versions of today’s marsupials – including enigmatic and enormous wombats.Julien Louys, Deputy Director, Australian Research Centre for Human Evolution, Griffith UniversityGilbert Price, Lecturer in Palaeontology, The University of QueenslandMathieu Duval, Ramón y Cajal (Senior) Research Fellow, Centro Nacional de Investigación sobre la Evolución Humana (CENIEH)Robin Beck, Lecturer in Biology, University of SalfordLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1945362022-11-16T19:03:00Z2022-11-16T19:03:00ZThousands of Tasmanian devils are dying from cancer – but a new vaccine approach could help us save them<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495528/original/file-20221116-25-fn2j40.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=26%2C80%2C2717%2C1782&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Julie Gaia/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Tasmanian devils are tough little creatures with a ferocious reputation. Tragically, each year thousands of Tasmanian devils suffer and die from contagious cancers – devil facial tumours.</p>
<p>We have discovered that a modified virus, like the attenuated adenovirus used in the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine, can make devil facial tumour cells more visible to the devil immune system.</p>
<p>We have also found key immune targets on devil facial tumour cells. These combined advances allow us to move forward with a vaccine that helps the devil immune system find and fight the cancer. </p>
<p>And we have a clever way to deliver this vaccine, too – with edible baits.</p>
<h2>A puzzling cancer</h2>
<p>Tasmanian devils mainly suffer from the original devil facial tumour, or DFT1. A second type of devil facial tumour (DFT2) has begun emerging in southern Tasmania that further threatens the already endangered devil population.</p>
<p>DFT1 and DFT2 are <a href="https://www.tcg.vet.cam.ac.uk/about/DFTD">transmissible cancers</a> – they spread living cancer cells when the devils bite each other.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/deadly-disease-can-hide-from-a-tasmanian-devils-immune-system-70594">Deadly disease can 'hide' from a Tasmanian devil's immune system</a>
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<p>This has presented a puzzle: a cancer cell that comes from another animal should be detected by the immune system as an invader, because it is “genetically mismatched”. For example, in human medicine, tissue transplants need to be genetically matched between the donor and recipient to avoid the immune system rejecting the transplant.</p>
<p>Somehow, DFT1 and DFT2 seem to evade the immune system, and devils die from tumours spreading throughout their body or from malnutrition due to the facial tumours disrupting their ability to eat. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495558/original/file-20221116-12-jv29a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Close-up of a Tasmanian devil held by human hands, with a tumour on its lower jaw" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495558/original/file-20221116-12-jv29a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/495558/original/file-20221116-12-jv29a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495558/original/file-20221116-12-jv29a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495558/original/file-20221116-12-jv29a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495558/original/file-20221116-12-jv29a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495558/original/file-20221116-12-jv29a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/495558/original/file-20221116-12-jv29a8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A Tasmanian devil with DFT1.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Andrew S. Flies @WildImmunity</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>On the bright side, the immune systems of a few wild devils <em>have</em> been able to overcome DFT1. Furthermore, <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/srep43827">previous vaccine and immunotherapy trials</a> showed the devil immune system can be activated to kill DFT1 cells and clear away sizeable tumours.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/genome-map-project-uncovers-first-tasmanian-devil-to-fight-off-face-tumour-2051">Genome map project uncovers first Tasmanian devil to fight off face tumour</a>
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<p>This good news from both the field and the laboratory has allowed our team to zoom in on key DFT protein targets that the devil immune system can attack. This helps us in our quest to develop a more effective and scalable vaccine.</p>
<h2>How can we vaccinate wild animals?</h2>
<p>Even if we succeed in producing a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/14760584.2020.1711058">protective DFT vaccine</a>, we can’t trap and inject every devil.</p>
<p>Luckily, clever researchers in Europe in the 1970s figured out that <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0003953">vaccines can be incorporated into edible food baits</a> to vaccinate wildlife across diverse landscapes and ecosystems.</p>
<p>In 2019, we hypothesised an oral bait vaccine could be made to protect devils from DFT1 and DFT2. Fast forward to November 2022 and the pieces of this ambitious project are falling into place.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/bones-and-all-see-how-the-diets-of-tasmanian-devils-can-wear-down-their-sharp-teeth-to-blunt-nubbins-162422">Bones and all: see how the diets of Tasmanian devils can wear down their sharp teeth to blunt nubbins</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>First, using samples from <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s00432-021-03601-x">devils with strong anti-tumour responses</a>, we have found that the main immune targets are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1098/rsob.220208">major histocompatibility proteins</a>. These are usually the main targets in transplant rejection. This tells us what to put into the vaccine. </p>
<p>Second, we tested a virus-based delivery system for the vaccine. We used a weakened adenovirus most of the human population has already been exposed to, and found that in the lab this virus can enter devil facial tumour cells.</p>
<p>Importantly, the weakened adenovirus can be modified to produce proteins that can <a href="https://doi.org/10.1099/jgv.0.001812">stimulate the devil immune system</a>. This means it forces the devil facial tumour cells to show the major histocompatibility proteins they normally hide, making the cells “visible” to cancer-killing immune cells. </p>
<p>This vaccine approach is much like the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine that uses a weakened chimpanzee adenovirus to deliver cargo to our immune system, getting it to recognise SARS-CoV-2. <a href="https://www.aphis.usda.gov/wildlife_damage/nepa/states/US/us-2019-onrab-ea.pdf">Adenoviral vaccines have also been widely used</a> in oral bait vaccines to protect raccoons from the rabies virus.</p>
<h2>Edible protection</h2>
<p>But there were additional challenges to overcome. Our collaborators in the USA who research and develop other wildlife vaccines suggested that developing an effective bait for devils might be as challenging as making the vaccine itself.</p>
<p>Our first studies of placebo baits in the wild confirmed this. Contrary to previous studies which showed devils eating most of the baits, we found the baits were also readily consumed by other species, including eastern quolls, brushtail possums, and Tasmanian pademelons.</p>
<p>This led us to test an automatic bait dispenser supplied by our collaborators at the US Department of Agriculture National Wildlife Research Center. The <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/WR/justaccepted/WR22070">dispensers proved quite effective</a> at reducing the amount of “off target” bait consumption and showed devils could successfully retrieve the baits with their dexterous paws.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Tasmanian devil retrieving a placebo bait from an automatic bait dispenser.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Encouragingly, a recent mathematical modelling study suggests an <a href="https://lettersinbiomath.journals.publicknowledgeproject.org/index.php/lib/article/view/555">oral bait vaccine could eliminate DFT1</a> from Tasmania.</p>
<p>Successful delivery of the vaccine would be a demanding and long-term commitment. But with it, we could prevent the suffering and deaths of thousands of individual devils, along with helping to reestablish a healthy wild devil population.</p>
<h2>Can’t stop now</h2>
<p>A bit of additional good news fell into place in late 2022 with the announcement that our international team was awarded an Australian Research Council Linkage Project grant to develop better baits and ways to monitor wildlife health in the field.</p>
<p>These oral bait vaccine techniques that eliminate the need to catch and jab animals could be applied to future wildlife and livestock diseases, not just Tassie devils.</p>
<p>Building on this momentum, we are planning to start new vaccine trials in 2023. We don’t know yet if this new experimental vaccine can prevent devils from getting devil facial tumours.</p>
<p>However, the leap we have made in the past three years and new technology gives us momentum and hope that we might be able to stop DFT2 before it spreads across the state. Perhaps, we can even eliminate DFT1.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tasmanian-devils-look-set-to-conquer-their-own-pandemic-151842">Tasmanian devils look set to conquer their own pandemic</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/194536/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew S. Flies receives funding from the Australian Research Council through a Linkage Project grant with industry partners Wildcare Tasmania, Animal Control Technologies, Fortifyedge, and the department of Natural Resources and the Environment Tasmania. He receives funding from the Save the Tasmanian Devil Appeal. He receives funding from a Charitable organisation from the Principality of Liechtenstein. He is affiliated with Wildcare Tasmania. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ruth Pye receives funding from Save The Tasmanian Devil Appeal.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chrissie Ong does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The same technology found in a widely used COVID-19 vaccine could be the key to helping save wild Tassie devils – without any needles.Andrew S. Flies, Senior Research Fellow in Immunology, University of TasmaniaChrissie Ong, Research officer, The University of QueenslandRuth Pye, veterinarian, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1897962022-09-21T20:01:12Z2022-09-21T20:01:12ZWhy do humans grow two sets of teeth? These marsupials are rewriting the story of dental evolution<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485764/original/file-20220921-22-967wt2.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C5%2C3735%2C2482&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://unsplash.com/photos/WTOslVPWxXA">Hossein Anv / Unsplash</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>You only get 52 teeth in your lifetime: 20 baby teeth, followed by 32 adult teeth.</p>
<p>It’s not like that for all animals. Some, like rodents, never replace their teeth. Others, like sharks, keep replacing them again and again.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-baby-teeth-fall-out-but-theyre-still-important-heres-how-to-help-your-kids-look-after-them-148190">Yes, baby teeth fall out. But they're still important — here's how to help your kids look after them</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<p>So why do we humans replace our teeth only once? And how does the whole tooth replacement process work? </p>
<p>These are tricky questions, and we don’t have all the answers. But a new <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10914-021-09597-y">discovery</a> about the strange tooth-replacement habits of the tammar wallaby, a small Australian marsupial, may help shed some light on this dental mystery.</p>
<h2>Not everybody replaces teeth the same way</h2>
<p>It has been long assumed modern mammals all replace their teeth the same way. However, advances in <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0003996917303473?casa_token=0gu05JnuZ84AAAAA:xi5fZVyb_zOqJXdplt5g74Dy4K9XvBLTkM-XOdllqriGTqXcQYWZ9aanRqu5Lx9oJL44ycSAWg">3D scanning and modelling</a> have revealed mammals with unusual tooth replacement, like the <a href="https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Macropus_eugenii/">tammar wallaby</a> (<em>Macropus eugenii</em>) and the <a href="https://animaldiversity.org/accounts/Eidolon_helvum/">fruit bat</a> (<em>Eidolon helvum</em>).</p>
<p>These mammals have given us important clues as to how humans and other mammals have evolved from ancestors with <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/293333133_An_ancient_dental_gene_set_governs_development_and_continuous_regeneration_of_teeth_in_sharks">continuous</a> tooth replacement.</p>
<h2>How do humans make and replace teeth?</h2>
<p>Human teeth begin growing between the sixth and eighth week of an embryo’s development, when a band of tissue within the gums called the primary dental lamina starts to thicken. Along this band, clusters of special stem cells appear at the sites of future teeth, known as “placodes”. </p>
<p>The placodes then begin to grow into teeth, going through the bud, cap and bell stages along the way. They form into their final shape and harden with layers of dentine and enamel. Eventually, they will erupt through the gums. The incisors are the first to erupt, as early as 6 months old, which is why its called the<a href="https://www.ada.org.au/getattachment/Your-Dental-Health/Resources-for-Professionals/Resources-for-Children-0-11/When-the-teeth-come-marching-in-teething-chart/When-the-teeth-come-marching-in,-teething-chart.pdf.aspx">teething</a>phase!</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-what-is-inside-teeth-187258">Curious Kids: what is inside teeth?</a>
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</em>
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<hr>
<p>This generation of teeth, which grow from the primary dental lamina, are known as “primary dentition”, or baby teeth.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/SCP38MrccsI?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
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<p>Secondary or adult teeth grow a little bit differently. An offshoot of tissue called the successional lamina grows out from the baby tooth, and that tissue develops the replacement tooth like an apple on a branch of a tree. Adult teeth begin to grow before we are born, but take many years for the full set to form and eventually appear.</p>
<p>Replacement occurs when the adult teeth get large enough that they finally push out the baby teeth and remain as the permanent set of teeth for the rest of our lives. The first molar usually erupts between 6 and 7 years of age, while our <a href="https://theconversation.com/explainer-what-are-wisdom-teeth-and-should-i-get-mine-out-100019">wisdom teeth</a> are the last to appear (roughly between 17 and 21 years of age).</p>
<p>Most mammals replace their teeth once in the course of their lives, like we do. This is known as “diphyodonty” (two sets of teeth). </p>
<p>Some groups of mammals, such as rodents, don’t replace their teeth at all. These “monophyodonts” get by with the same set of teeth for their whole lives. There are also a few unusual mammals, such as echidnas, that don’t grow any teeth at all!</p>
<h2>Learning from the wallaby</h2>
<p>The tammar wallaby is also a diphyodont, replacing its teeth only once. </p>
<p>Scientists long assumed it replaced its teeth in the same way humans do, though historical notes going back as far as 1893 noticed unusual things about this marsupial’s tooth development. For starters, while we replace our incisors, canines and premolars, tammar wallabies only replace their premolars.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485822/original/file-20220921-14-7rtkn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485822/original/file-20220921-14-7rtkn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485822/original/file-20220921-14-7rtkn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485822/original/file-20220921-14-7rtkn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485822/original/file-20220921-14-7rtkn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=364&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485822/original/file-20220921-14-7rtkn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485822/original/file-20220921-14-7rtkn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485822/original/file-20220921-14-7rtkn8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=458&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Baby and adult teeth of the tammar wallaby. Scale bar equals 1 cm. Nasrullah et al.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Recently my colleagues at <a href="http://evomorph.org/">Monash University</a> and the <a href="https://renfreeshawlab.biosciences.uom.org.au/professor-marilyn-renfree/">University of Melbourne</a> and I observed the teeth of tammar wallabies from the embryo through to adulthood. We used a technique called <a href="https://dicect.com/">diceCT</a>, which combines staining and CT scanning, and found something surprising.</p>
<p>Instead of replacement premolar teeth developing from the successional lamina, they were in fact delayed baby teeth developing from the primary dental lamina. </p>
<p>This means the tammar wallaby does not have any traditional tooth replacement. This discovery opens up a huge set of new questions. What exactly are these teeth?</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485824/original/file-20220921-23-ke25fp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485824/original/file-20220921-23-ke25fp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485824/original/file-20220921-23-ke25fp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485824/original/file-20220921-23-ke25fp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485824/original/file-20220921-23-ke25fp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=748&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485824/original/file-20220921-23-ke25fp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485824/original/file-20220921-23-ke25fp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485824/original/file-20220921-23-ke25fp.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=940&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Tooth development of premolars in the tammar wallaby in 2D and 3D, showing the delayed baby tooth ‘P3’ appearing 47 days after its siblings ‘dP2’ and ‘dP3’</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One explanation for these delayed baby teeth could be a link to our ancestry of continuous tooth replacement.</p>
<h2>Your teeth are millions of years in the making</h2>
<p>Unlike mammals, most other animals, including fish, sharks, amphibians and reptiles, replace their teeth <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/figure/Comparative-phylogeny-of-tooth-replacement-modes-in-toothed-vertebrate-clades-A-the_fig12_293333133">multiple</a> times (they are “polyphyodonts”). Mammals <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232692044_Evolution_of_Dental_Replacement_in_Mammals">lost</a> this ability around 205 million years ago. </p>
<p>The reason we stop making teeth is because our dental lamina <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0022034512442896?casa_token=pzWylril4jYAAAAA%3AenKTY9_uTDtVwsry4NEX0xk9pspOIJETFSjWXH3yu0chDYyMcELuqGgkLVPBwXEJ8WlC7R1fkbuL">degrades</a> after our second set are made, while it remains active in polyphyodonts. </p>
<p>Interestingly, in modern and fossil polyphyodonts the replacement teeth often develop in groups of alternating waves, known as “<a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ijos201336">Zahnreihen</a>”. </p>
<p>While the tammar only replaces its premolars, these delayed baby teeth could represent the presence of the Zahnreihen still occurring in modern mammals. </p>
<p>This gives us a clue about how we have <a href="https://theconversation.com/evolution-of-a-smile-400-million-year-old-spiny-fish-overturns-shark-theory-of-tooth-origins-160563">evolved</a> from ancestors with continuous tooth replacement: by modifying and reducing a system that is hundreds of millions of years old.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482886/original/file-20220906-14-ifg0e9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/482886/original/file-20220906-14-ifg0e9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482886/original/file-20220906-14-ifg0e9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482886/original/file-20220906-14-ifg0e9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=316&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482886/original/file-20220906-14-ifg0e9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482886/original/file-20220906-14-ifg0e9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/482886/original/file-20220906-14-ifg0e9.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In reptiles, teeth are replaced in waves, or ‘Zahnreihen’. Each blue line shows a single wave.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.nature.com/articles/ijos201336">Whitlock and Richman</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Research has also found that <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/joa.12522">fruit bats</a> (<em>Eidolon helvum</em>) make replacement teeth in unusual ways, including growing them in front of the baby tooth, behind it, beside it, or splitting off from it.</p>
<p>This is exciting because, together with the tammar, it shows there may well be a wealth of tooth replacement diversity across mammals happening right under our noses – or our gums!</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/189796/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Qamariya Nasrullah does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The teeth of the tammar wallaby don’t grow in the way you’d expect – and scientists want to know why.Qamariya Nasrullah, Postdoctoral Research Associate in Evolutionary Morphology, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1816172022-05-08T19:58:16Z2022-05-08T19:58:16ZMeet the territorial females and matriarchs in Australia’s backyard<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461797/original/file-20220506-22-5xkyt0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=84%2C32%2C4229%2C2839&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Linda Reinhold/Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions WA</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Social structure is an important aspect of species’ biology. Having a pecking order and male or female territoriality can help species thrive. </p>
<p>For instance, this can prevent inbreeding, by ensuring males or females leave their family territory to reproduce. It can also help with passing important knowledge and resources down through family lines. </p>
<p>Many Australian species, such as the kangaroo, have a male-dominated social structure. However, recent research into lesser-known native animals has found it’s actually girls who run these worlds.</p>
<h2>The houseproud greater stick-nest rat</h2>
<p>The <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=137">greater stick-nest rat</a> (<em>Leporillus conditor</em>) is a native rodent about the size of a guinea pig. It was once widespread across the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/WR97056">southern half of mainland Australia</a>. But by the 1930s, grazing, changes in land use and introduced predators reduced its range down to a single island off the coast of South Australia.</p>
<p>Now, thanks to some fantastic conservation efforts, it persists in multiple safe havens across the country. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461798/original/file-20220506-20-w7swvh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Stick-nest rat" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461798/original/file-20220506-20-w7swvh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461798/original/file-20220506-20-w7swvh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461798/original/file-20220506-20-w7swvh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461798/original/file-20220506-20-w7swvh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461798/original/file-20220506-20-w7swvh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461798/original/file-20220506-20-w7swvh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461798/original/file-20220506-20-w7swvh.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Stick-nest rats are a vulnerable species.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">April Reside</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This species builds nests out of sticks and dry grass, bonded together with special sticky urine. The nests can reach huge sizes and are surprisingly complex – with multiple burrows, chambers and even levels that keep the inhabitants safe from predators and extreme heat and cold.</p>
<p>The construction is so advanced that nests can last for thousands of years, when protected from the elements by caves or rock <a href="https://doi.org/10.1017/S0033822200057155">overhangs</a>. </p>
<p>These stick nests are communal and used over many generations. For a long time, however, there was little understanding of how the nests are passed down. <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/aec.13100">A study</a> published last year by myself and my colleagues used trapping data and genetic samples taken over many years to investigate this. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461256/original/file-20220504-21-3vghd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Researcher Isabelle Onley kneels down behind a large greater stick-nest rat nest, made of many long twigs and sticks, in the outback" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461256/original/file-20220504-21-3vghd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461256/original/file-20220504-21-3vghd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461256/original/file-20220504-21-3vghd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461256/original/file-20220504-21-3vghd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=800&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461256/original/file-20220504-21-3vghd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461256/original/file-20220504-21-3vghd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461256/original/file-20220504-21-3vghd6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1005&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Greater stick-nest rat nests can grow to large sizes as they are passed down and maintained over many generations.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Georgina Neave/Arid Recovery</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We found females were more closely related to each other over shorter distances, while males were not. Also, females that were caught in consecutive months and years were typically found in the same nest (or one next door), while males were not.</p>
<p>The evidence pointed to one thing: female greater stick-nest rats typically remain in, or near, the nest they were born in – while males leave and disperse across the landscape. </p>
<p>This strategy has two major benefits. First, it helps prevent inbreeding within populations. </p>
<p>Second, since the nests are a huge energy investment for a little rat, passing them down through the female line improves the likelihood of breeding success for future generations, by giving descendants protection from predators and extreme temperatures. </p>
<p>Researchers of greater stick-nest rats have also observed dominant behaviour in females and, occasionally, aggression towards males that come near their nest. Males have even been seen presenting flowers to a resident female, as if attempting courtship!</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/fierce-female-moles-have-male-like-hormones-and-genitals-we-now-know-how-this-happens-149174">Fierce female moles have male-like hormones and genitals. We now know how this happens.</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Female dominance in Australian species</h2>
<p>The greater stick-nest rat isn’t the only Australian rodent with females that rule the roost. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/WR9930405">broad-toothed rat</a>, a sub-alpine species found in south-eastern Australia, demonstrates female territoriality in the summer months while the males roam across larger home ranges. But when the cold winters set in, and snow covers the landscape, males and females can be found huddling together in shared nests.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.1976.tb00930.x">ash grey mouse</a>, a native rodent from the biodiversity hotspot of southwest Western Australia, forms groups of multiple females that share a burrow and raise their young together. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461473/original/file-20220505-26-mcq5lm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="An ash-grey mouse wrapped up, with its head peaking out" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461473/original/file-20220505-26-mcq5lm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/461473/original/file-20220505-26-mcq5lm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461473/original/file-20220505-26-mcq5lm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461473/original/file-20220505-26-mcq5lm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461473/original/file-20220505-26-mcq5lm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461473/original/file-20220505-26-mcq5lm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/461473/original/file-20220505-26-mcq5lm.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Ash-grey mice face many threats including loss of habitat, competition and predation from introduced species.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://bie.ala.org.au/species/urn:lsid:biodiversity.org.au:afd.taxon:1067f58c-b822-412d-bb6e-07a9b8416a52">Questa Game/Atlas of Living Australia</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Female social dominance can also be found in marsupials, such as the thumb-sized <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/AJZS121">honey possum</a>, which is also native to southwest Western Australia. Females of this species are larger than males and are sexually promiscuous. They mate with multiple males to produce tiny babies, no bigger than a grain of rice. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7998.1995.tb02769.x">brush-tailed phascogale</a>, another small marsupial species, has females which settle and occupy territories that are sometimes surrendered in part to their daughters when they reach adulthood.</p>
<p>The males, meanwhile, move more freely over large home ranges that overlap with other individuals. A key factor in the marking of brush-tailed phascogale territories is believed to be a kind of scent marking, by way of faeces left in prominent positions around the home range boundaries and nesting sites. </p>
<p>Other native species exhibit similarly variable and complex social structures. But with so many of our fauna threatened, endangered or difficult to find and study in the wild, we have much to learn about how they interact. </p>
<h2>The science of sociality</h2>
<p>While the complexities of these social hierarchies are fascinating, they’re often hard to determine. Previously, such knowledge could only be gained through long-term studies in the field or in captivity. This is difficult when the species is shy, or tiny like the honey possum. </p>
<p>Thankfully, advances in genetic and animal tracking technology are providing experts deeper insight into the dynamics of these species, with much less cost and effort. With tracking devices becoming more lightweight, powerful and durable, researchers can now remotely monitor the movement and dispersal of species across their home ranges. </p>
<p>In addition, DNA from tissue, skin or hair samples can be sequenced to provide high-quality data to inform on how individuals in an area are related. This can show us how family groupings coexist. </p>
<p>Yet even with these improvements, there is still much we don’t know about the secret lives of Australia’s animals. With the combined pressures of habitat loss, feral predators and climate change, researchers are racing against the clock to better understand our wildlife and hopefully preserve it. </p>
<p>Wildlife reserves such as the <a href="https://aridrecovery.org.au">Arid Recovery Reserve</a>, where our study on greater stick-nest rats was conducted, combine research with hands-on management to inform conservation efforts – and are taking steps to safeguard our precious native species’ place in the future. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-australian-birds-can-teach-us-about-choosing-a-partner-and-making-it-last-125734">What Australian birds can teach us about choosing a partner and making it last</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/181617/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Isabelle Onley receives funding from the following sources: the University of Adelaide, Australian Government Research Training Program Scholarship, Nature Foundation South Australia, Biological Society South Australia/Nature Conservation Society of South Australia, and the Field Naturalists Society of South Australia.</span></em></p>Researchers are in a race against time to learn about the female-oriented social structures of Australia’s small native rodents and marsupials.Isabelle Onley, PhD Candidate, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1795662022-03-23T19:07:08Z2022-03-23T19:07:08ZResearch reveals 111 times Australian quolls reportedly chewed on human corpses<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453755/original/file-20220323-19-tjqnxz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C7507%2C5007&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Warning: this article contains graphic descriptions of human disfigurement.</em></p>
<p>In 1878, the body of Sergeant Michael Kennedy lay in the bush in Victoria’s Wombat Ranges. He’d been shot by the notorious Ned Kelly gang – but the bush would add its own gruesome ending. </p>
<p><a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/201538578?searchTerm=native%20cat">According to</a> the man who later stumbled across his body, “one ear was gone. I imagined it had been gnawed away by native cats (quolls). The body was very much decomposed”.</p>
<p>This report is not isolated. My <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/AM/AM21037">recent research</a> has found 111 accounts between 1831 and 1916 where the scavenging of a corpse was attributed partly or entirely to quolls.</p>
<p>These grisly reports reveal a fascinating picture – not just of quolls, but of life in Australia in the 1800s.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="two man beaside body in bush" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453736/original/file-20220323-27-1cldy4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453736/original/file-20220323-27-1cldy4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453736/original/file-20220323-27-1cldy4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453736/original/file-20220323-27-1cldy4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=379&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453736/original/file-20220323-27-1cldy4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453736/original/file-20220323-27-1cldy4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453736/original/file-20220323-27-1cldy4o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=476&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Two men stand near the body of Michael Kennedy, after it was purportedly disfigured by quolls.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://victoriancollections.net.au/items/529561312162ef1930ebcd59">Victoria Police Museum</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A captivating carnivore</h2>
<p>Quolls, historically known as native cats, are carnivorous marsupials. Four species are native to Australia: the spotted-tailed quoll, and the western, eastern and northern quoll. </p>
<p>Quoll populations in Australia have been declining for more than a century. Tasmania’s remaining eastern quoll population, for example, <a href="https://www.awe.gov.au/sites/default/files/env/pages/e206aad2-6b02-42ec-8cae-139d2ba2f117/files/eastern-quoll-year-3-scorecard.pdf">fell</a> more than half in the decade to 2009 and numbers have not recovered since.</p>
<p>Quolls are <a href="https://zslpublications.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1469-7998.2010.00738.x">known to</a> scavenge. But I wanted to know more about their scavenging of human corpses. I hoped this would yield further insights into the animal’s diet and feeding behaviour.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/quolls-are-in-danger-of-going-the-way-of-tasmanian-tigers-27744">Quolls are in danger of going the way of Tasmanian tigers</a>
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</p>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="northern quoll eating" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453730/original/file-20220323-27-6dgw3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=12%2C0%2C2703%2C2015&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453730/original/file-20220323-27-6dgw3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453730/original/file-20220323-27-6dgw3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453730/original/file-20220323-27-6dgw3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453730/original/file-20220323-27-6dgw3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453730/original/file-20220323-27-6dgw3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453730/original/file-20220323-27-6dgw3j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The research sought to learn more about quoll diets.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UTS</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Delving into a gruesome history</h2>
<p>Of the 111 historical accounts I found of quolls scavenging on a human corpse, six involved definitive evidence – either eyewitness accounts of the behaviour, or tracks and scats at the scene.</p>
<p>In 1862, a police officer saw seven quolls scavenging a corpse near Sale in Victoria. Upon being disturbed they ran into a dead tree. The policeman “burnt them and the tree to the ground” – revealing the widespread antipathy towards quolls at the time.</p>
<p>Tragically, in two cases quolls were seen feeding on infant corpses: at Araluen in New South Wales in 1895, and Sydney’s Middle Harbour in 1897.</p>
<p>And a sorry account tells of a man lost in the forest at Winchelsea in Victoria. Found near death, he said quolls and other animals “had eaten his fingers and his toes. They had bitten his face and torn his nose away”. He died soon after.</p>
<p>In 105 accounts I identified, quolls were not caught in the act of disfigurement, but were assumed to be the culprits.</p>
<p>In 1831, for example, Captain Bartholomew Thomas died in the Tasmanian bush after an Aboriginal spear attack during the Black War. When his body was <a href="https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/233097793?searchTerm=native%20cat">found</a> it was missing half the throat. A member of the search party speculated it had been eaten by crows or “native cats”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A sign reading 'Caution Quolls'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453733/original/file-20220323-19-yvbiqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453733/original/file-20220323-19-yvbiqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453733/original/file-20220323-19-yvbiqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453733/original/file-20220323-19-yvbiqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453733/original/file-20220323-19-yvbiqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453733/original/file-20220323-19-yvbiqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453733/original/file-20220323-19-yvbiqz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The author found 111 historical accounts of quolls eating human bodies.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Sutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In a modern context, it may seem a huge leap to attribute so many corpse disfigurements to quolls. And of course, correlation does not equal causation. </p>
<p>But during the period, quolls were a major problem. They were recorded invading homes and other buildings, and in one account from South Australia, someone’s bed. </p>
<p>In 1856 at Glencoe in South Australia, 550 quolls were killed in one day after the animals reportedly gnawed on boots and stock whips.</p>
<p>And quolls were, and remain, abundant in a few parts of Tasmania, threatening rabbits, chickens, poultry and captive birds.</p>
<p>So in this context, assuming a quoll was responsible for scavenging a human corpse was only natural.</p>
<h2>What we can learn</h2>
<p>In the 1800s and early 1900s, quolls were found across Australia. But the accounts I uncovered were limited to Tasmania, and a wide coastal-inland band from the Queensland/NSW border to just east of the South Australia/Victoria border.</p>
<p>Those areas had significant human populations – and newspapers to report their observations – which may explain the pattern. But at the time, the eastern quoll reportedly reached <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/zo/ZO14029">plague</a> proportions in some places, and may have been desperate for food.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="a spotted quoll" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453737/original/file-20220323-27-c4f1x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453737/original/file-20220323-27-c4f1x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453737/original/file-20220323-27-c4f1x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453737/original/file-20220323-27-c4f1x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=267&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453737/original/file-20220323-27-c4f1x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453737/original/file-20220323-27-c4f1x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453737/original/file-20220323-27-c4f1x7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=336&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The victims spanned all reaches of society: a former convict, swagmen, farm workers and labourers, Chinese settlers and Aboriginal people. They died from a range of causes including murder, suicide, old age and misadventure.</p>
<p>Some 85% of the reported human victims of quoll scavenging were male. This is consistent with social attitudes during the 19th and early 20th centuries, when the outdoors was an overwhelmingly male domain.</p>
<p>Quolls are most abundant in late spring and summer. However, 41% of human scavenging accounts were reported in winter, and only 16% in both spring and summer. </p>
<p>This likely demonstrates quolls are hungriest in winter, as you might expect. But it also reflects the challenge of human survival at the time. There were minimal social supports, and human frailty or misadventure could easily lead to death from exposure. </p>
<p>Most accounts reported facial damage – to the eyes, ears, nose or tongue. Fingers and toes were reported in just three accounts. </p>
<p>Clothing worn by the person at their death, such as gloves, may help explain this. It may also reflect a bias on examining the face when identifying a corpse. </p>
<p>But it could also suggest quolls preferred some human body parts over others. In Tasmania, for example, quolls typically start on soft animal parts where they are able to tear open the skin.</p>
<h2>Bringing back the quolls</h2>
<p>I uncovered few corpse disfigurement accounts after 1900. This is consistent with a <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/zo/ZO14029">massive decline</a> in quoll numbers by this time, reportedly after constant persecution by humans, and disease.</p>
<p>Australia’s four quoll species are now struggling to survive. They’re variously listed as endangered or vulnerable, due to perils such as habitat loss, introduced cats and foxes, poisonous cane toads, climate change and car strikes.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/extinction-crisis-native-mammals-are-disappearing-in-northern-australia-but-few-people-are-watching-178313">Extinction crisis: native mammals are disappearing in Northern Australia, but few people are watching</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="a group of young sleeping quolls" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453746/original/file-20220323-23-h56olt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/453746/original/file-20220323-23-h56olt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453746/original/file-20220323-23-h56olt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453746/original/file-20220323-23-h56olt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453746/original/file-20220323-23-h56olt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453746/original/file-20220323-23-h56olt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/453746/original/file-20220323-23-h56olt.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Australia’s four quoll species are now struggling to survive.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Quolls are beautiful and special animals. I want to spread their story far and wide in the hope efforts to protect them will be expanded.</p>
<p>In some cases, fox and cat control has allowed quolls to <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aec.13091">return</a> to places they’ve been absent from for many years. But more conservation measures are needed. </p>
<p>Let’s hope quolls never again chew on a human corpse. But, restored to healthy numbers, perhaps they can resume their role in the bush as tough and wily predators. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/pet-quolls-are-practically-useless-for-real-world-conservation-39039">Pet quolls are practically useless for real-world conservation</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/179566/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Eric Peacock does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The 1878, the body of Sergeant Michael Kennedy lay in the bush in Victoria’s Wombat Ranges. He’d been shot by the notorious Ned Kelly gang – but the bush would add its own gruesome ending.David Eric Peacock, Adjunct Fellow, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1761552022-02-13T18:48:35Z2022-02-13T18:48:35ZQuokka-sized fossil species show kangaroos evolving to eat leaves – for the fourth time<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/445054/original/file-20220208-16-53z15l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1616%2C0%2C2730%2C1922&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> </figcaption></figure><p>Kangaroos have such a taste for leaves that they have evolved the ability to eat them on at least four separate occasions during their evolutionary history, a new fossil discovery reveals.</p>
<p>Today, there are more than 60 species of kangaroos, wallabies, bettongs and rat-kangaroos living throughout Australia and New Guinea. But their diversity in time is even more incredible: just 100,000 years ago, Australia had many species of giant kangaroos, including the giant short-faced kangaroos which, bizarrely enough, didn’t hop but instead <a href="https://theconversation.com/giant-kangaroos-were-more-likely-to-walk-than-hop-32837">walked</a> rather like a theropod dinosaur such as <em>Velociraptor</em>. </p>
<p>Going further back in time, to around 20 million years ago, there were plenty more interesting kangaroos, some of which were direct ancestors of today’s species. Generally, these species were no larger than a wallaby, but they were impressively diverse, including kangaroos with fangs, kangaroos that could eat meat, and more besides. </p>
<p>We know all this thanks to the amazing fossils discovered at Riversleigh World Heritage Area in north-western Queensland – arguably Australia’s most celebrated fossil location. So far, around 30 species of prehistoric kangaroos have been found here. And the two most recently discovered ones add another interesting twist to their evolutionary tale. </p>
<p>Our latest discovery, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03115518.2021.2012595">published today</a>, names two new species of ancient kangaroos: <em>Gumardee webbi</em> and <em>Gumardee keari</em>, which lived alongside one another around 18 million years ago in the Riversleigh rainforest. </p>
<p>They are represented by a few partial skulls and several jaws, which can tell us a lot about the biology of these extinct animals. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443657/original/file-20220201-15-yt0pc5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Kangaroo fossil skulls and reconstructions" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443657/original/file-20220201-15-yt0pc5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/443657/original/file-20220201-15-yt0pc5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443657/original/file-20220201-15-yt0pc5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443657/original/file-20220201-15-yt0pc5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=550&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443657/original/file-20220201-15-yt0pc5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443657/original/file-20220201-15-yt0pc5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/443657/original/file-20220201-15-yt0pc5.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=691&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Two new fossil kangaroos from Riversleigh World Heritage Area (Queensland), Gumardee webbi (top) and Gumardee keari (bottom), with their fossilised skull and jaw (left) and reconstructions (right)</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reconstructions by Nellie Pease</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>These kangaroos would each have weighed 3–4 kilograms, roughly the size of a quokka. But what’s most intriguing about them is their teeth. The pattern of blades on their molars is best suited to eating leaves from trees and bushes. This is surprising, because their ancestor, <em>Gumardee springae</em>, which lived around 6 million years earlier at the same location, had teeth better suited to a wider range of foods such as fruits, fungi and insects. </p>
<p>Two <a href="https://museumsvictoria.com.au/collections-research/journals/memoirs-of-museum-victoria/volume-74-2016/pages-189-207/">previously discovered species</a>, <em>Gumardee pascuali</em> and <em>Gumardee richi</em>, were intermediate to these two groups, both in terms of their evolutionary age and the patterns of their teeth. This means the Riversleigh fossils, taken together, reveal the evolutionary process of kangaroos’ teeth changing and adapting to different foods.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ancient-bilby-and-bandicoot-fossils-shed-light-on-the-mystery-of-marsupial-evolution-159437">Ancient bilby and bandicoot fossils shed light on the mystery of marsupial evolution</a>
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<h2>A taste for leaves</h2>
<p>Remarkably, this is not the first time this has happened in the fossil record of kangaroos. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the late palaeontologist Bernie Cooke studied Riversleigh’s kangaroos in great detail and <a href="https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/123908#page/99/mode/1up">discovered</a> that the ancestors of modern kangaroos were generalists, eating mostly forest fruits, fungi and insects, and slowly evolved the ability to eat leaves over time.</p>
<p>Today, kangaroos and wallabies only eat leaves from bushes or grass, whereas rat-kangaroos, bettongs and potoroos eat fungi, fruits and insects, similar to ancient kangaroos.</p>
<p>He even demonstrated that another family of ancient kangaroos at Riversleigh, the <a href="https://www.mindat.org/taxon-8486081.html">fanged kangaroos</a>, independently evolved the same ability to eat leaves at roughly the same time.</p>
<p>Another independent evolution of leaf-eating was also identified from fossil sites in South Australia – the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03115518.2021.2012595">third documented instance</a> in kangaroos.</p>
<p>The two new species discovered at Riversleigh therefore now represent the fourth time leaf-eating has been seen to develop in the kangaroo fossil record. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/giant-kangaroos-were-more-likely-to-walk-than-hop-32837">Giant kangaroos were more likely to walk than hop</a>
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<h2>Competition in the rainforest</h2>
<p>Only one of these four groups (the Riversleigh species studied by Cooke) is a direct evolutionary ancestor of today’s kangaroos and wallabies. The other three groups that pioneered leaf-eating all eventually died out: the South Australian species around 23 million years ago; the <em>Gumardee</em> group around 15 million years ago; and the fanged kangaroos around 10 million years ago. </p>
<p>The obvious questions that arises are: why did these groups all die out, and does this mean today’s kangaroos and wallabies have evolved to eat a risky and highly specialised diet?</p>
<p>We know their ancestors ate fruits, fungi and insects, but then again so would have many other species of marsupials, such as bandicoots and possums. In fact, there were so many of these various marsupial competitors that would have made evolutionary sense for ancient kangaroos to branch out into other foods – particularly leaves, which would have been available all year round, as opposed to seasonal fruits. </p>
<p>So why didn’t they survive? They weren’t the only ones evolving the ability to eat leaves at the time. It happened in possums, koalas and wombats, so the competition was tough. </p>
<p>We have always known Australia is a tough place to survive. Riversleigh’s fossils, which span more than 10 million years of Australia’s evolutionary history, shows just how tough it would have been.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176155/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kenny Travouillon receives funding from Western Australian Museum. This study was funded by the Robert Day Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of Queensland. Facilities for the completion of this research were provided by the University of Queensland, Queensland Museum, Western Australian Museum and the University of New South Wales.</span></em></p>Two newly discovered species of quokka-sized kangaroos, which lived 18 million years ago in the Queensland rainforest, show evolution in the act of giving kangaroos a taste for leaves.Kenny Travouillon, Curator of Mammals, Western Australian MuseumLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1765282022-02-07T22:57:00Z2022-02-07T22:57:00ZWe’ve decoded the numbat genome – and it could bring the thylacine’s resurrection a step closer<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444710/original/file-20220207-69470-18gdtnw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=1%2C0%2C797%2C524&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption"></span> <span class="attribution"><span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It used to be the stuff of science fiction: bringing a long-dead species back from extinction by painstakingly piecing together its full DNA sequence, or genome.</p>
<p>It’s not quite as straightforward as Jurassic Park would have us believe, but in the age of DNA editing, the idea of cloning an extinct species is no longer purely the realm of fantasy.</p>
<p>Today, our team at the <a href="https://www.dnazoo.org/">DNA Zoo</a> has hopefully taken a step towards creating a blueprint to clone one of Australia’s most loved, and most missed, extinct species: the thylacine, or Tasmanian tiger.</p>
<p>We’ve done it not by studying the thylacine itself, but by completing a chromosome-length 3D genome map of one of its closest living relative: the numbat. </p>
<p>The striped, termite-eating numbat is Western Australia’s faunal emblem, and now lives only in small pockets of that state, although it once roamed throughout southern Australia. Crucially, numbats and thylacines shared a common ancestor that lived some time <a href="https://academic.oup.com/zoolinnean/article/176/3/686/2453844">between 35 million and 41 million years ago</a> – relatively recent in evolutionary terms. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444711/original/file-20220207-85126-dxjt82.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Evolutionary relationship between numbats and thylacines" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444711/original/file-20220207-85126-dxjt82.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/444711/original/file-20220207-85126-dxjt82.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444711/original/file-20220207-85126-dxjt82.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444711/original/file-20220207-85126-dxjt82.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=391&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444711/original/file-20220207-85126-dxjt82.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444711/original/file-20220207-85126-dxjt82.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/444711/original/file-20220207-85126-dxjt82.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=491&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Evolutionary tree showing the kinship between numbats and thylacines.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">DNA Zoo/UWA</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Both these enigmatic creatures have stripes, but that’s not where the similarity ends – as much as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2652203/">95% of their DNA may be identical</a>.</p>
<p>Decoding the <a href="https://www.dnazoo.org/post/western-australia-s-faunal-emblem-numbat">full numbat genome</a> therefore raises the tantalising prospect of being able to piece together the thylacine’s genetic sequence, which in turn would offer the tantalising prospect of reintroducing one of Australia’s most iconic lost species.</p>
<p>No doubt this will be more challenging than the famous bid to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-021-01096-y">resurrect the woolly mammoth</a> using DNA from the Asian elephant. But the release of the numbat genome makes the thylacine’s resurrection a more realistic prospect than ever before.</p>
<p>The numbat is the latest marsupial genome sequence from this family compiled by our team at the DNA Zoo, following on from the <a href="https://www.dnazoo.org/post/famously-feisty">Tasmanian devil</a>, <a href="https://www.dnazoo.org/post/quollity-genomic-resource">quoll</a> and <a href="https://www.dnazoo.org/post/tail-of-a-dunnart">dunnart</a>. We acquired samples of more than 500 mammals from around the world, and aim to make all their genomes available for conservation and open-access research.</p>
<p>We are also working on a detailed genomic analysis of most Australian carnivorous marsupials, and will ultimately produce a full peer-reviewed publication in a journal. But today, by <a href="https://www.dnazoo.org/post/western-australia-s-faunal-emblem-numbat">sharing the sequence publicly</a> at this stage of our research, we can offer a valuable resource to other scientists and conservationists studying numbats and other marsupials. Given the conservation threats they face, time is ticking fast.</p>
<h2>Genes from thylacines</h2>
<p>The first draft of the Tasmanian tiger genome was <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41559-017-0417-y">pieced together in 2018</a>, using the century-old museum samples. But this version is very fragmentary – several key gaps still need to be filled to piece this puzzle together into a comprehensive genome sequence. Unfortunately, the old museum samples didn’t provide enough high-quality DNA to resolve these issues.</p>
<p>So how do you reconstruct something without some seemingly essential ingredients? This is where the genome of the thylacine’s closest living cousin – the numbat – can help. Our new high-resolution numbat genome map can help us fill in the missing bits of the thylacine genome.</p>
<p>There will still be significant hurdles between having a complete thylacine genome and cloning a thylacine for real. But what takes this scenario from science fiction to potential reality is <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-crispr-the-gene-editing-technology-that-won-the-chemistry-nobel-prize-147695">CRISPR gene-editing technology</a> – a set of enzymes that allow scientists to target very particular snippets of DNA.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-is-crispr-the-gene-editing-technology-that-won-the-chemistry-nobel-prize-147695">What is CRISPR, the gene editing technology that won the Chemistry Nobel prize?</a>
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<p>CRISPR has been referred to as a kind of “molecular scissors” that allow the precise selection and insertion of DNA from specimens, making “de-extincting” the thylacine or other species a realistic prospect by allowing geneticists to selectively “repair” the missing bits of its genome.</p>
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<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/TdBAHexVYzc?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">How CRISPR gene editing works.</span></figcaption>
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<p>With the help of this and other “synthetic biology” tools, geneticists could conceivably piece together a set of chromosomes that could then be inserted into an egg cell with its existing nucleus removed, allowing the new DNA to act as the egg’s genetic blueprint. This is the technique being pursued by a US research group aiming to <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41587-021-01096-y">clone the mammoth</a> by using the DNA of its closest living relative, the Asian elephant, to fill in the missing bits of mammoth DNA.</p>
<h2>Science fiction or science future?</h2>
<p>Around the world, rapid advancements in embryology and genetics are opening up the possibility of resurrecting extinct species — or at least creating something that’s close enough to the original that it will develop and grow properly.</p>
<p>In 1996, British scientists successfully cloned a sheep, <a href="https://theconversation.com/20-years-after-dolly-everything-you-always-wanted-to-know-about-the-cloned-sheep-and-what-came-next-72655">called Dolly</a>. Then, in 2017, Chinese researchers used the same technique to create <a href="https://www.bbc.com/news/health-42809445">two genetically identical long-tailed macaques</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dolly-the-sheep-and-the-human-cloning-debate-twenty-years-later-63712">Dolly the Sheep and the human cloning debate - twenty years later</a>
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<p>Through the growing field of synthetic biology and precise genome-editing technologies such as CRISPR, Harvard geneticist George Church has launched <a href="https://colossal.com/harvard-geneticist-george-church-cofounded-a-biotech-firm-to-try-to-use-gene-editing-to-bring-back-the-woolly-mammoth/">Colossal</a>, a biotech company that has initially set on creating an elephant-mammoth hybrid, with the first calves expected in six years. </p>
<h2>Helping numbats first</h2>
<p>Of course, the numbat is one of Australia’s most loved native marsupials in its own right. </p>
<p>Like the Tasmanian Tiger, it too was on the verge of extinction during the late 20th century, but extensive conservation efforts as well as government and community intervention are helping its numbers <a href="https://www.australianwildlife.org/numbats-return-to-central-australia/">gradually bounce back</a>.</p>
<p>Still, with fewer than 1,000 numbats left in the wild and the species still <a href="https://www.iucnredlist.org/search?query=Numbat&searchType=species">officially listed as endangered</a>, our genetic blueprint hopefully paves the way for better numbat conservation information for our scientists on the front line. Many of these scientists are fighting the very genetic diseases threatening to exterminate numbats. </p>
<p>There is a still a long road ahead before the thylacine could be cloned. But if it works, the end goal of any de-extinction effort surely is to reintroduce animals to the wild. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tasmanian-tigers-were-going-extinct-before-we-pushed-them-over-the-edge-88947">Tasmanian tigers were going extinct before we pushed them over the edge</a>
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<p>If that were to happen, the thylacine already has one advantage over many de-extinction candidates: appropriate habitat. With reserves covering about half of Tasmania today, there would be ample places for thylacines to live, still teaming with the prey animals they used to eat.</p>
<p>There is no question it could be put back into the Tasmanian bush. There is also good reason to do so: the thylacine was Tasmania’s key carnivore. Putting it back atop the food chain could help restabilise ecosystems that are under threat.</p>
<p>If and when that dream becomes reality, thylacines would owe a debt of gratitude to their little cousin, the humble numbat.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/176528/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Parwinder Kaur does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The numbat is one of the Tasmanian tiger’s closest surviving relatives. And its newly sequenced genome raises the possibility of piecing together the genetic code of its extinct fellow marsupial.Parwinder Kaur, Associate Professor | Director, DNA Zoo Australia, The University of Western AustraliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1750642022-01-24T02:52:46Z2022-01-24T02:52:46ZHow this little marsupial’s poo nurtures urban gardens and bushland (and how you can help protect them)<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441665/original/file-20220120-16-dbkmh3.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=62%2C23%2C5114%2C3422&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Narelle Dybing</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Wildlife encounters can be few and far between in cities but, if you’re lucky, you might catch sight of a small Aussie marsupial in Perth that’s helping keep urban bushland healthy.</p>
<p>Quenda, a rabbit-sized digging mammal native to southwestern Australia, are found in patches of bushland, parkland and even backyard gardens. And our <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10531-021-02287-4">latest research shows</a> just how important these unassuming marsupials are to Australian ecosystems. </p>
<p>We found quenda eat a huge variety of specialised fungi called mycorrhiza, which play a key role in helping native vegetation, including eucalyptus trees, absorb water and nutrients. The fungal spores survive in quenda droppings, which can then <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/aec.12598">colonise eucalypt roots</a>. In fact, we found one little scat with over 100 types of fungi in it – that’s some very efficient fungal dispersal!</p>
<p>Quenda are considered rare or near threatened due to habitat clearing and predation by introduced predators – cats, dogs and foxes. It’s crucial we manage and maintain their population in and around cities to ensure they have a positive influence on urban ecosystems.</p>
<h2>Nature’s gardeners</h2>
<p>Many different Australian mammals dig in the soil for food or shelter, including bettongs, potoroos, bandicoots and <a href="https://theconversation.com/dig-this-a-tiny-echidna-moves-8-trailer-loads-of-soil-a-year-helping-tackle-climate-change-155947">echidnas</a>.</p>
<p>Sadly, most of <a href="https://theconversation.com/losing-australias-diggers-is-hurting-our-ecosystems-18590">Australia’s digging mammals are threatened</a> with extinction, and many now have very restricted distributions as their habitat is cleared for urban development and they are preyed on by cats and foxes.</p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441919/original/file-20220121-25-10nd9x5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441919/original/file-20220121-25-10nd9x5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441919/original/file-20220121-25-10nd9x5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441919/original/file-20220121-25-10nd9x5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441919/original/file-20220121-25-10nd9x5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441919/original/file-20220121-25-10nd9x5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441919/original/file-20220121-25-10nd9x5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441919/original/file-20220121-25-10nd9x5.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">One quenda can dig 45 pits each night, such as this one.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Natasha Tay</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Once thought to be a subspecies of the southern brown bandicoot, the quenda was recognised as its own distinct species (<a href="https://doi.org/10.11646/zootaxa.4378.2.3"><em>Isoodon fusciventer</em></a>) in 2018, and is found only in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1071/ZO19052">the southwestern corner of Australia</a>. </p>
<p>Quenda are prolific diggers in their search for dinner – a single quenda can dig up to <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/zo/ZO13030">45 small pits per night</a>. Although each pit is small, one quenda can dig over four tonnes of soil each year in total, almost 30 wheelbarrow loads.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dig-this-a-tiny-echidna-moves-8-trailer-loads-of-soil-a-year-helping-tackle-climate-change-155947">Dig this: a tiny echidna moves 8 trailer-loads of soil a year, helping tackle climate change</a>
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<p>Quenda and other digging mammals are like nature’s gardeners. Their digging helps break the water repellent layer on the soil surface, allowing more water to infiltrate the soil, and decreases soil compaction and erosion. </p>
<p>Quenda digs also incorporate leaf litter and seeds into the soil, and this improves conditions for native plants to grow and thrive.</p>
<h2>45 species in each scat</h2>
<p>But perhaps the biggest way they help Australian ecosystems is by dispersing fungal spores in their droppings. </p>
<p>We examined quenda scats from urban bushland south of Perth, and found they contained a large variety of fungi. Quenda scats are only 3-5cm long, but had an average of 45 different fungi species in each that the quenda would have deliberately sought out and eaten.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441920/original/file-20220121-21-qaj9ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441920/original/file-20220121-21-qaj9ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441920/original/file-20220121-21-qaj9ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441920/original/file-20220121-21-qaj9ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441920/original/file-20220121-21-qaj9ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441920/original/file-20220121-21-qaj9ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441920/original/file-20220121-21-qaj9ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441920/original/file-20220121-21-qaj9ba.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Quenda were recognised as their own distinct species in 2018.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Lilian Tay</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>These include fungi that produce underground truffle-like fruitbodies, much like the famous black truffles we eat. Because the truffle-like fruitbodies are found underground, they cannot easily disperse their spores. This means they rely almost entirely on quenda and other animals to dig them up and disperse the spores in their poo. </p>
<p>This is a wonderful example of a mutually beneficial – or “symbiotic” – relationship: the quenda gets a delicious meal and the fungus has their spores dispersed far and wide.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-fungis-knack-for-networking-boosts-ecological-recovery-after-bushfires-132587">How fungi's knack for networking boosts ecological recovery after bushfires</a>
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<p>We found more than half of the fungi species in quenda scats are “mycorrhizas”. These fungi form a mutually beneficial relationship with the roots of <a href="https://nph.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/nph.14976">over 90% of the world’s plants</a> including most native Australian species. </p>
<p>In this mycorrhizal relationship, the plant gives the fungus carbohydrates – a product of photosynthesis. In return, the fungus takes nutrients and water from the soil and passes them to the plant. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441921/original/file-20220121-21-1w4zoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441921/original/file-20220121-21-1w4zoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/441921/original/file-20220121-21-1w4zoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441921/original/file-20220121-21-1w4zoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441921/original/file-20220121-21-1w4zoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441921/original/file-20220121-21-1w4zoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441921/original/file-20220121-21-1w4zoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/441921/original/file-20220121-21-1w4zoo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Mycorrhizas include <em>Cortinarius</em> species, which can come in bright purple, orange or green.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<p>The mycorrhizal fungi are essential to healthy forests and bushland. When plants such as eucalypts team up with mycorrhizal fungi, the plants grow taller and faster and are better protected from stresses such as drought and pathogens. </p>
<p>Given very few other species of digging mammals survive in urban bushland, it’s clear quenda play a vital role to disperse mycorrhizal fungi.</p>
<h2>How you can keep quenda safe</h2>
<p>Quenda are extremely important ecosystem engineers in our urban bushland, so it’s crucial we help them thrive by making quenda friendly gardens. </p>
<p>Quenda feel safest in dense vegetation, so if you have a garden and want quenda to visit, plant a dense native understory. This provides both food and habitat for the quenda. </p>
<p>It’s also important to <a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-let-them-out-15-ways-to-keep-your-indoor-cat-happy-138716">keep your cats indoors</a> (especially at night) and to teach your dogs not to attack quenda. Make sure any water sources – think ponds, fountains, swimming pools – have an escape route or ramp for quenda, in case they fall in. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/dont-let-them-out-15-ways-to-keep-your-indoor-cat-happy-138716">Don't let them out: 15 ways to keep your indoor cat happy</a>
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<p>Finally, at dawn and dusk, when quenda are most active, <a href="https://theconversation.com/10-million-animals-are-hit-on-our-roads-each-year-heres-how-you-can-help-them-and-steer-clear-of-them-these-holidays-149733">drive slowly and keep your eyes peeled</a> to avoid collisions.</p>
<p>They are one few remaining digging mammals in Australian urban bushlands, so the next time you spot a quenda, remember all the wonderful ways it’s making our corner of the world a better place.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/175064/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Quenda are one of few remaining digging mammals in Australian urban bushlands, and fungi is their favourite food.Anna Hopkins, Senior Lecturer in Molecular Ecology, Edith Cowan UniversityNatasha Tay, PhD Candidate, Murdoch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.