{"id":776229,"date":"2026-07-03T10:02:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T10:02:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/776229\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T10:02:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T10:02:15","slug":"outback-footprints-tracked-to-burrows-of-rare-wild-animals-most-of-us-havent-seen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/776229\/","title":{"rendered":"Outback footprints tracked to burrows of rare wild animals ‘most of us haven’t seen’"},"content":{"rendered":"

A search is underway for a rare desert animal that was pushed to the brink of extinction by two destructive predators, feral cats<\/a> and foxes<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Bilbies once roamed 80 per cent of the Australian mainland<\/a>, but today, the rabbit-sized hopping marsupials only survive in a few fragmented pockets of the outback, and behind the high fences of sanctuaries.<\/a><\/p>\n

Over the last three years, Indigenous experts have been executing a plan to turn the odds in the bilby’s favour.<\/p>\n

Feral cats and foxes are being managed in part of Kiwirrkurra, a small community in Western Australia’s<\/a> Gibson Desert, 700km west of Alice Springs.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Bilbies survive in zoos and sanctuaries, but there are few truly wild members of the species left.<\/p>\n

(Getty)<\/p>\n

To understand the impact of the baiting program, the bilbies, known locally as ninu, are being tracked and counted.<\/p>\n

This means tracking footprints in the sand, locating burrows, and then collecting their scats.<\/p>\n

\"Left:<\/p>\n

Rangers have used their tracking skills to locate and document bilby burrows in the outback.<\/p>\n

(Indigenous Desert Alliance\/Kiwirrkurra Rangers)<\/p>\n

The project is a collaboration between the Indigenous Desert Alliance<\/a> and the local Kiwirrkurra Rangers, who are comparing bilby numbers in areas where feral predators are managed to where they are not.<\/p>\n

The cats, foxes and bilbies are most active at night, but during the day, ranger Yukultji Napangati can track their impact.<\/p>\n

“Itakatji here,” she says in footage supplied to Yahoo News.<\/p>\n

What she’s referring to are the seeds of what’s also referred to as Desert Flinders Grass.<\/p>\n

“Too many itakatji. Ninu been eat, night time,” she says using multiple languages.<\/p>\n

“Piti there,” she then says, pointing and using a western desert word for a bilby burrow.<\/p>\n

Rangers remember region thriving in 1960s<\/p>\n

Rachel Paltridge, a senior ecologist with the Alliance, said the project highlights the benefit of combining the generations-old tracking skills of the Kiwirrkurra Rangers with the latest genetic science.<\/p>\n

“We’re lucky we still work with old people who walked through the desert, living a nomadic lifestyle in the 1950s and 1960s,” she said.<\/p>\n

“They can remember all those wild animals that most of us have never seen, let alone in abundance.<\/p>\n

“And the bilby is kind of the last one standing of those medium-sized animals, surviving in little pockets of the desert.”<\/p>\n

RELATED<\/p>\n

Once collected, the scats are sent to the Department of Biodiversity’s (DBCA) DNA testing lab, where they are analysed to determine how many bilbies are living in each landscape.<\/p>\n

Importance of protecting ‘truly wild bilbies’<\/p>\n

There are dreaming stories, sites, songs and ceremonies, all linked to bilbies.<\/p>\n

While the species thrives in fenced-off sanctuaries, Paltridge said it’s important that they flourish again on Aboriginal lands to help people maintain their cultural connection with country.<\/p>\n

“There are a lot of bilbies protected behind fences now,” she told Yahoo News.<\/p>\n

“But out there on Aboriginal land, we’ve got populations of truly wild bilies that have shown some resilience to cats and foxes.<\/p>\n

“So they’re survivors, but it’s pretty tough for them out there.”<\/p>\n

Do you have a story on wildlife in the outback? Contact newsroomau@yahoonews.com<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Kiwirrkurra<\/p>\n

The scats were collected and then sent to the Department of Biodiversity (DBCA).<\/p>\n

(Indigenous Desert Alliance\/Kiwirrkurra Rangers)Bilby survivors face ‘crunch time’<\/p>\n

This year, heavy rain has led to a boom in native hopping mouse numbers, and as a result, cat and fox numbers are growing.<\/p>\n

But once the mice die off, then it will be the bilbies that are next on the menu.<\/p>\n

“It will be crunch time when things dry off and the seed finishes, because then the hopping mice crash,” Paltridge said.<\/p>\n

“Then you’ll have all these hungry predators, looking for the next thing to eat.”<\/p>\n

While it’s too early to know how many bilbies survive in the Kiwirrkurra area, the small populations appear stable where cat management occurs.<\/p>\n

The program is funded by the federal government’s National Environmental Science Program’s Resilient Landscapes Hub until 2027.<\/p>\n

You can also follow us on Facebook<\/a>, Instagram<\/a>, TikTok<\/a>, X<\/a> and YouTube<\/a>.<\/p>\n