Speaking About a Near Extinct Species

I am speaking to you today to inform you about the journey of the near extinct species, of Australian Northern hairy-nosed Wombats, and the effort being made to save them. Who we can thank for saving them and where we can find them.

The Northern hairy-nosed wombat has found themselves in a lot of trouble and is considered one of the rarest animals. They are on thier way back from extinction at two locations in Australia.

The main contributing factor of the near extinction of this species were the droughts of the early 1900's and was thought to have finished off all Northern wombats and they were actually declared extinct until a tiny population of 35 was found in the Epping Forest in 1937.

This land was privately owned, by the Dennis family (who managed the land before it was named a national park. It is said these animals are pesky at night and it is likely that it was hunted deliberately to manage the land like foxes and racoons, and that is also taken into consideration as another contributing factor.

The Epping Forest National Park is who we have to thank for saving this cute and interesting mammal. The National Park was proclaimed in 1971 to protect this last population of Northern hairy-nosed wombats, where they seem to be making a slow recovery

Wombats are large burrowing mammals found only in Australia. Being rather timid and primarily nocturnal, they're difficult to observe in their natural habitat and before recent efforts haven't been well studied. They weren't even noticed by European settlers for ten years.

An extinct population existed in southeast Queensland until about 1908. But now, There are only three living species of wombats, the Southern Hairy nosed wombat, the Northern Hairy nosed wombat and the common wombat.

Field research on the northern hairy-nosed wombats first began at Epping Forest National Park in the 1970s. Staff from Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service monitored burrow activity and distribution in the Park, and found that burrows were restricted to areas of deep sandy soils and estimated the population to sill contain as few as 20 to 30 wombats.

A recovery plan has been implemented to save the Northern Wombat with 5, 10 and 50 year objectives. The overall goal of the plan, which was published in 2004, is to achieve a total population of a minimum of 150 Wombats in the wild population and at least one captive population by 2007.

The hope for 150 individuals in the wild was not achieved by 2007; however the captive population program is well on its way. The last census estimated a population of about 138 northern hairy-nosed wombats there.

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They are making plans to relocate a population of them to Richard Underwood Nature Reserve. This is where a new land site not too far from St. George in southern Australia is being the named place for a second colony of wombats to live and be studied. One of the aims of the nature reserve is a reproductive study used to develop techniques to cross-foster pouch young between wombat mothers.

If the southern hairy-nosed wombat can be used to raise the young of their own species, they could also be used to raise the young of the northern-hairy nosed wombat once it makes its way to the pouch, where it stays for up to 15 months. This would allow the northern hairy-nosed wombat mothers to breed more frequently, while their young are cared for by their southern "aunties."

There's the construction of a dingo and dog proof fence at Epping Forest (costing around $400,000) and the installation of a 9 kilometer water pipeline with 15 new water points. There is also another predator proof fence at the Richard Underwood Nature Reserve and there are man made wombat burrows at the Reserve to provide shelter for the translocated wombats as they establish their own.

Potential threats to the northern hairy-nose wombats at Epping Forest National Park include; uncontrolled fires that can destroy large areas of wombat feeding habitat, food competitors, predators