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🇦🇺 Australia /Environment & Climate

Funding fight over animal that 'disappeared from science' for 100 years

From ABC Australia · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News Named sources Context piece
  • Endangered mahogany gliders, which vanished from scientific records for a century, face an uncertain future due to a lack of funding for population monitoring.
  • Despite being rediscovered in 1993 and declared endangered, the gliders' habitat has been significantly impacted by deforestation and Cyclone Yasi.
  • A new drone-based research method offers an accurate way to monitor the gliders, but funding is unavailable to implement it.

The future of Australia's endangered mahogany glider hangs precariously in the balance, threatened by a critical lack of funding for essential population monitoring. These small marsupials, once thought to have "disappeared from science" for over 100 years, inhabit a small stretch of eucalypt forest north of Townsville in North Queensland.

It then disappeared from science for over 100 years. The specimen was just filed away.

— Daryl DicksonDescribing the historical obscurity of the mahogany glider.

Discovered in 1883, the mahogany glider was officially declared a unique species in 1993, the same year it was classified as endangered. By then, over 60 percent of its habitat had already been cleared. Cyclone Yasi in 2011 further devastated its remaining home, but paradoxically, also brought a temporary surge of attention and funding for recovery efforts.

Cyclone Yasi was a game changer for us. We managed to get into the limelight for a little while.

— Daryl DicksonExplaining how the cyclone led to increased attention and funding.

Daryl Dickson, former chair of the national mahogany glider recovery team, explained that this funding influx allowed for the development of a scientific recovery plan. However, once the funding ran out, the team was left "in limbo," and the finalized plan was shelved. The recent Queensland government-funded project for the gliders concluded this month, leaving no dedicated funding for the species itself, only for broader ecosystem management.

But there is no funding for the mahogany glider in any way shape or form that I'm aware of. We've had our moment in the sun.

— Daryl DicksonExpressing concern over the current lack of dedicated funding for the species.

Dickson highlighted the frustration of operating without crucial population data. "We've had our moment in the sun," she said, referring to the post-cyclone funding period. A recent research initiative employed thermal drones to monitor glider habitat, estimating a population of around 3,000. Dickson believes this "hugely expensive" drone technology could be the key to future monitoring, but without funding, the gliders remain vulnerable, with warning signs potentially missed until it is too late.

If we had a regular monitoring process, at least we'd see the warning signs early enough to perhaps be able to make enough noise to make the government pay attention.

— Daryl DicksonHighlighting the importance of monitoring for early detection of threats.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by ABC Australia. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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