{"id":822045,"date":"2026-07-25T01:54:12","date_gmt":"2026-07-25T01:54:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/822045\/"},"modified":"2026-07-25T01:54:12","modified_gmt":"2026-07-25T01:54:12","slug":"mahogany-glider-advocate-says-endangered-animals-are-in-fight-for-funding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/822045\/","title":{"rendered":"Mahogany glider advocate says endangered animals are in ‘fight’ for funding"},"content":{"rendered":"

Nobody knows for sure how many endangered mahogany gliders, which “disappeared from science” for a century, still exist in their little pocket on the North Queensland coastline.<\/p>\n

That is half the problem; the other half is that there is no funding to find out.<\/p>\n

The small gliders are an example of the fight endangered-animal support groups face for funding and how a disaster can sometimes lead to a moment of fame.<\/p>\n

The mahogany glider is one of Australia’s largest tree-dwelling gliders and lives in a 120-kilometre-long stretch of eucalypt forest north of Townsville.<\/p>\n

It was discovered in 1883 but never classified in the Queensland Museum.<\/p>\n

“It then disappeared from science for over 100 years. The specimen was just filed away,” former chair of the national mahogany glider recovery team Daryl Dickson said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The mahogany glider was declared a unique species in 1993. (Supplied: Daryl Dickson)<\/p>\n

In 1993, it was rediscovered in North Queensland and declared a unique species with the name Petaurus gracilis, meaning graceful rope dancer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

At the same time, it was declared endangered with more than 60 per cent of its habitat already cleared.<\/p>\n

That habitat was further decimated by Cyclone Yasi in 2011, which at the time was the worst storm to hit Queensland.<\/p>\n

A blessing in the storm<\/p>\n

“Cyclone Yasi was a game changer for us,” Ms Dickson said.<\/p>\n

“We managed to get into the limelight for a little while.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Daryl Dickson says funding for the species boomed after Cyclone Yasi. (ABC News: James Tugwell)<\/p>\n

There was an influx of funding and the recovery team worked towards a scientific recovery plan for the species.<\/p>\n

But then Ms Dickson said the funding ran out, which left the recovery team “in limbo”. The finalised plan was shelved.<\/p>\n

The recent Keeping Country Connected for Mahogany Gliders project, funded by the Queensland government, ended this month.<\/p>\n

There is funding for ecosystem-wide action such as removing weeds or building road crossings.<\/p>\n

“But there is no funding for the mahogany glider in any way shape or form that I’m aware of,” Ms Dickson said.<\/p>\n

“We’ve had our moment in the sun.”<\/p>\n

And that came when she felt the group was on the verge of a breakthrough.<\/p>\n

A new research method<\/p>\n

Ms Dickson said the team was “always guessing” when it came to population numbers and locations, information that is crucial for analysing long-term changes.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Daryl Dickson says drone technology could help monitor mahogany gliders into the future, if there was funding. (ABC News: James Tugwell)<\/p>\n

A researcher recently flew a thermal drone over mahogany glider habitat, revealing an easy and accurate way to monitor the population.<\/p>\n

From one brief night’s flying, she estimated the population was about 3,000.<\/p>\n

Ms Dickson said the “hugely expensive” drones “could be the answer for the future”. But there was no funding.<\/p>\n

“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,” she said.<\/p>\n

“It’s frustrating to see things that could be done but that we have no capacity to do.”<\/p>\n

No ‘basic funding’\"A<\/p>\n

Daryl Dickson says there is no funding available for projects specific to the mahogany glider. (Supplied: Daryl Dickson)<\/p>\n

More than 15 years after Cyclone Yasi, Ms Dickson said the mahogany glider had lost the political attention that secured funding.<\/p>\n

“At the moment, the limelight is pointing at other species. We have so many endangered species with no basic funding,” she said.<\/p>\n

“Around Australia, there are so many amazing species that are all ‘pick me, pick me’ and there are so many brilliant groups working for these animals.<\/p>\n

“We’re all fighting the same battles. It’s sad we’re fighting against each other, but it’s difficult days for government and conservation.”<\/p>\n

Mahogany glider recovery<\/a><\/p>\n

An endangered North Queensland flying possum gets a stepping stone to recovery under a program to help with its habitat pathways.<\/p>\n

Funding decisions ‘super important’<\/p>\n

There are more than 2,100 plants and animals threatened with extinction in Australia<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Australian Threatened Species commissioner Fiona Fraser said they were all vying for a share of funding from different levels of government and various sectors and organisations.<\/p>\n

For example, she said the Australian government committed about $800 million annually, guided by the threatened species action plan, which prioritises 110 species and 20 landscapes for a focused effort.<\/p>\n

“In a perfect world, there would be long-term funding for all those species all the time,” Dr Fraser said.<\/p>\n

“Our threatened species definitely need more love. They need more resources. They need more science.<\/p>\n

“So, making decisions about funding is super important.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Fiona Fraser says threatened species can always do with more funding and support. (Supplied: DCCEEW)<\/p>\n

Dr Fraser said funding often prioritised wide-scale environmental action that benefited many animals rather than focusing on individual species.<\/p>\n

“Some species need a very bespoke approach \u2026 whereas other species require landscape action to mitigate threats,” she said.<\/p>\n

Dr Fraser said some iconic species, for example the koala in Queensland, often received more funding because of their relative fame.<\/p>\n

But she said that was a good thing because “actions to improve koala habitat \u2026 actually benefit the many, many other species that co-occur with koalas”.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, Ms Dickson was determined to keep the recovery team in contact, even without a chairperson, funding or regular meetings.<\/p>\n

“We just need to keep going until such time that, perhaps, the spotlight shines on the mahogany glider again.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Nobody knows for sure how many endangered mahogany gliders, which “disappeared from science” for a century, still exist…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":822046,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[64,63,396614,68,396611,20558,75,396613,396612,26673,128,396615,6649],"class_list":["post-822045","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-environment","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-australian-threatened-species-commissioner","tag-climate-change","tag-daryl-dickson","tag-endangered-species","tag-environment","tag-fiona-fraser","tag-mahogany-gliders","tag-north-queensland","tag-science","tag-threatened-animal","tag-townsville"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822045","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=822045"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/822045\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/822046"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=822045"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=822045"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=822045"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}