One of our most endangered kangaroo species, the Banded Hare-wallaby, has made a historic return to mainland Australia, more than 100 years after the last wild colony disappeared as a result of foxes and cats.

60 Banded Hare-wallabies – 27 males and 33 females – have been successfully translocated to AWC’s Mt Gibson Wildlife Sanctuary, where they have been released into a 7,800 hectare feral predator-free area.

The nationally threatened Shark Bay Mouse is set to be translocated to Mt Gibson in the next 6 weeks. It will be the 8th endangered mammal reintroduced to Mt Gibson.

The Banded Hare-wallaby is the sole survivor of a now extinct group of mostly megafauna kangaroos; it is genetically and morphologically distinct from all living kangaroo species. Once found from near the Victoria/SA border to southwestern Australia, the last wild animal on the mainland was recorded in 1906, highlighting the significance of its return to Mt Gibson.

The Banded Hare-wallaby is so vulnerable to cats and foxes that it survives only in feral predator-free areas. The survival and recovery of the Hare-wallaby – and several other threatened mammals – depends entirely on the establishment of large feral cat and fox-free areas such as at Mt Gibson (which is the largest cat-free area on mainland WA).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hyTAcsl6WPU&feature=youtu.be

Good work by the AWC.

Man they look vulnerable.

Peak Warming Man said:

Man they look vulnerable.

You can see why the cats and foxes knocked them off so easily. If you can’t get rid of these predators then the only way for this and most other Australian mammals is these large fenced areas. Very sad really.

PermeateFree said:

Peak Warming Man said:

Man they look vulnerable.

You can see why the cats and foxes knocked them off so easily. If you can’t get rid of these predators then the only way for this and most other Australian mammals is these large fenced areas. Very sad really.

The saddest thing is that in the main though the education has been out there, very few people care at all.

Peak Warming Man said:

Man they look vulnerable.

where vulnerable = tasty

Michael V said:

Oh, lovely.

> The Banded Hare-wallaby is the sole survivor of a now extinct group of mostly megafauna

So this is what megafauna looks like

mollwollfumble said:

Michael V said:

Oh, lovely.

> The Banded Hare-wallaby is the sole survivor of a now extinct group of mostly megafauna

So this is what megafauna looks like

As Arts said, it looks tasty.
Slowly cooked on a spit.

Peak Warming Man said:

mollwollfumble said:

Michael V said:

Oh, lovely.

> The Banded Hare-wallaby is the sole survivor of a now extinct group of mostly megafauna

So this is what megafauna looks like

As Arts said, it looks tasty.
Slowly cooked on a spit.

The Aborigines probably feasted on a few too. The property where I live would have been good for this little animal and others, and probably juveniles hunted them by throwing chunks of granite (collected nearby) at them, as a number that fit nicely into the hand have been recovered from here and would have no other use.

PermeateFree said:

Peak Warming Man said:

As Arts said, it looks tasty.
Slowly cooked on a spit.

The Aborigines probably feasted on a few too. The property where I live would have been good for this little animal and others, and probably juveniles hunted them by throwing chunks of granite (collected nearby) at them, as a number that fit nicely into the hand have been recovered from here and would have no other use.

I’ve been learning recently that for wild food in Australia, the leading authority is still the diary of explorer Ludwig Leichhardt. This diary is more reliable and comprehensive than information from the Aborigines. On the other hand, Leichhardt’s description of how good Australian native foods are tends to be coloured by the fact when you’re on the point of starvation most food tastes good.

mollwollfumble said:

PermeateFree said:

Peak Warming Man said:

As Arts said, it looks tasty.
Slowly cooked on a spit.

The Aborigines probably feasted on a few too. The property where I live would have been good for this little animal and others, and probably juveniles hunted them by throwing chunks of granite (collected nearby) at them, as a number that fit nicely into the hand have been recovered from here and would have no other use.

I’ve been learning recently that for wild food in Australia, the leading authority is still the diary of explorer Ludwig Leichhardt. This diary is more reliable and comprehensive than information from the Aborigines. On the other hand, Leichhardt’s description of how good Australian native foods are tends to be coloured by the fact when you’re on the point of starvation most food tastes good.

I’ve read his diaries, he went through a period of stomach troubles adapting to aboriginal food but once over that he was happy to eat their tucker.

mollwollfumble said:

PermeateFree said:

Peak Warming Man said:

As Arts said, it looks tasty.
Slowly cooked on a spit.

The Aborigines probably feasted on a few too. The property where I live would have been good for this little animal and others, and probably juveniles hunted them by throwing chunks of granite (collected nearby) at them, as a number that fit nicely into the hand have been recovered from here and would have no other use.

I’ve been learning recently that for wild food in Australia, the leading authority is still the diary of explorer Ludwig Leichhardt. This diary is more reliable and comprehensive than information from the Aborigines. On the other hand, Leichhardt’s description of how good Australian native foods are tends to be coloured by the fact when you’re on the point of starvation most food tastes good.

Leichhardt was one of the very few explorers that actually talked to Aborigines and recorded a great deal of vegetation that they ate and used for medical purposes. However, his ventures are restricted to NSW, Qld and the NT, which would have been of little use outside of those regions. Several Botanists also collected information on vegetation used by Aborigines, besides many early settlers.

mollwollfumble said:

PermeateFree said:

Peak Warming Man said:

As Arts said, it looks tasty.
Slowly cooked on a spit.

The Aborigines probably feasted on a few too. The property where I live would have been good for this little animal and others, and probably juveniles hunted them by throwing chunks of granite (collected nearby) at them, as a number that fit nicely into the hand have been recovered from here and would have no other use.

I’ve been learning recently that for wild food in Australia, the leading authority is still the diary of explorer Ludwig Leichhardt. This diary is more reliable and comprehensive than information from the Aborigines. On the other hand, Leichhardt’s description of how good Australian native foods are tends to be coloured by the fact when you’re on the point of starvation most food tastes good.

If you are interested, this book is contemporary and readable. I bought, at considerable expense, a facsimile copy some years ago. There is debate amongst the scholars as to how much of it James Dawson wrote. His daughter Isabella grew up with the locals and learned the language and it is believed she did quite a lot of the work for the document.

https://archive.org/details/australianabori00dawsgoog

Peak Warming Man said:

mollwollfumble said:

PermeateFree said:

The Aborigines probably feasted on a few too. The property where I live would have been good for this little animal and others, and probably juveniles hunted them by throwing chunks of granite (collected nearby) at them, as a number that fit nicely into the hand have been recovered from here and would have no other use.

I’ve been learning recently that for wild food in Australia, the leading authority is still the diary of explorer Ludwig Leichhardt. This diary is more reliable and comprehensive than information from the Aborigines. On the other hand, Leichhardt’s description of how good Australian native foods are tends to be coloured by the fact when you’re on the point of starvation most food tastes good.

I’ve read his diaries, he went through a period of stomach troubles adapting to aboriginal food but once over that he was happy to eat their tucker.

The name has been changed now but the genus of bush food known as bush banana were named after Leichardt originally.

roughbarked said:

Peak Warming Man said:

mollwollfumble said:

I’ve been learning recently that for wild food in Australia, the leading authority is still the diary of explorer Ludwig Leichhardt. This diary is more reliable and comprehensive than information from the Aborigines. On the other hand, Leichhardt’s description of how good Australian native foods are tends to be coloured by the fact when you’re on the point of starvation most food tastes good.

I’ve read his diaries, he went through a period of stomach troubles adapting to aboriginal food but once over that he was happy to eat their tucker.

The name has been changed now but the genus of bush food known as bush banana were named after Leichardt originally.

The novel about Leichhardt was called Voss…

mollwollfumble said:

Michael V said:

Oh, lovely.

> The Banded Hare-wallaby is the sole survivor of a now extinct group of mostly megafauna

So this is what megafauna looks like

For a while it’s closest relative was considered to be this Extinct kangaroo with legs and arms almost the same length. But mtDNA now makes that unlikely.