{"id":232230,"date":"2026-01-14T06:14:09","date_gmt":"2026-01-14T06:14:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/232230\/"},"modified":"2026-01-14T06:14:09","modified_gmt":"2026-01-14T06:14:09","slug":"pilbara-home-to-five-animal-species-most-impacted-by-habitat-loss-report-finds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/232230\/","title":{"rendered":"Pilbara home to five animal species most impacted by habitat loss, report finds"},"content":{"rendered":"

Western Australia’s Pilbara is home to the five animal species suffering the most heavily from habitat destruction, a new report claims.<\/p>\n

The research released on Wednesday by the Australian Conservation Foundation (ACF) found the federal government approved the bulldozing of 57,199 hectares of land last year, double the area approved the previous year.<\/p>\n

The endangered northern quoll, which calls the Pilbara home, was the most impacted species with 7,643ha of habitat approved for clearing in 2025.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

The rare night parrot was captured on camera by Martu rangers in WA’s Pilbara region in late 2025 (Supplied: Jamukurnu-Yapalikurnu Aboriginal Corporation)<\/p>\n

The ACF claims mining was responsible for almost 70 per cent of threatened species habitat loss last year.<\/p>\n

A 5,035ha expansion for Rio Tinto’s West Angelas iron ore mine, 110 kilometres north-west of Newman, was the reason the northern quoll, night parrot, ghost bat, Pilbara leaf-nosed bat and Pilbara olive python topped the list.<\/p>\n

\"Green<\/p>\n

Adam Bandt has criticised the government’s approach to land clearing approvals. (ABC News: Luke Stephenson)<\/p>\n

ACF chief executive Adam Bandt said the federal government’s approval of the land clearing went directly against its 10-year threatened species action plan<\/a> which aims for zero extinctions.<\/p>\n

“It is going to push them a step closer to extinction,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The Pilbara in particular is home to so many of these threatened species that are sharing the same area and that rely on the ecosystem being healthy in order to survive.”<\/p>\n

\"Haulage<\/p>\n

Rio Tinto operates the West Angelas iron ore mine in the Pilbara, 110km from Newman. (AAP: Alan Porritt)<\/p>\n

Night parrot altering plans<\/p>\n

Experts estimate between 100 and 500 of the critically endangered night parrot<\/a> remain in the wild in Australia.<\/p>\n

Audio recordings are used to help map where the birds are located, helping inform mine plans.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Night parrots were thought to be extinct, but were rediscovered in Queensland in 2013. (Supplied: Arianna Urso, Western Australian Museum)<\/p>\n

Rio Tinto relocated its bore field at the Winu copper project, 320km east of Port Hedland, due to the birds’ presence.<\/p>\n

Greatland Resources has also made contingency plans to move a haul road at its nearby Haveiron project, as current plans may interfere with what is thought to be a night parrot flyway zone.<\/p>\n

Night works have also been paused at the project as further fauna studies are undertaken.<\/p>\n

\"Night<\/p>\n

Newcrest Mining’s Telfer gold and copper mine has sought environmental approvals for an expansion. (Supplied: Newcrest Mining)<\/p>\n

Rio Tinto is also working to reduce the impact of its blasting and heavy machinery on ghost bats, while BHP has a tracking study on olive pythons underway.<\/p>\n

A Rio spokesperson said the miner took a long-term view of its environmental protection responsibilities.<\/p>\n

“This includes mine design and planning to avoid and minimise environmental impacts, greater focus on rehabilitation and offsetting significant residual impacts,” they said.<\/p>\n

\"Dave<\/p>\n

The Pilbara olive python can be found in caves, rocky areas and gorges. (ABC Southern Queensland: Peter Gunders)<\/p>\n

“We undertake research or monitoring of all threatened species in the Pilbara listed in the ACF report.<\/p>\n

“This is done directly, or in partnership with government, industry peers or independent researchers, to better understand the population ecology of these important species.”<\/p>\n

Unexpected benefit of mining footprint<\/p>\n

Ornithologist and University of Queensland researcher Nick Leseberg said the research mining companies were required to undertake often proved valuable.<\/p>\n

“The only people that spend any time out in those areas are Indigenous rangers and resource companies,” Dr Leseberg said.<\/p>\n

“So if it wasn’t for the work of those two groups our knowledge of night parrots would still be fairly small.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Night parrots are so elusive that researcher Nick Leseberg has never seen them. (ABC Science: Ann Jones)<\/p>\n

He said miners had filled a shortfall in research funding that would ideally be provided by government.<\/p>\n

“If it wasn’t for these resource companies out looking for the birds that just wouldn’t be happening,” he said.<\/p>\n

Under the magnifying glass<\/p>\n

UWA mineral economist Allan Trench said the Pilbara was surveyed and analysed in a way other regions in Australia were not.<\/p>\n

“You get a potential bias in the outcomes that it looks bad for the Pilbara,” he said.<\/p>\n

“But that’s probably because the Pilbara has been studied exceptionally, more so than perhaps an area of remote bush somewhere else in Australia.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Allan Trench says Australia’s environmental protection standards are appropriate. (Supplied: UWA)<\/p>\n

Professor Trench believed the current environmental laws were appropriate.<\/p>\n

“A reputation takes a long time to build but the seconds to destroy,” he said.<\/p>\n

“If you have to move the road because you can hear parrots, and maybe road noise may disturb them, then you move the road.<\/p>\n

“It may not work in other parts of the world where those environmental standards are not so high, but I think that’s the appropriate level for Australia.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Western Australia’s Pilbara is home to the five animal species suffering the most heavily from habitat destruction, a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":232231,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[137847,137849,12913,6819,273,137845,2752,111,139,20544,69,137846,137848,62257,147],"class_list":{"0":"post-232230","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-environment","8":"tag-adam-bandt","9":"tag-australian-conservation-foundation","10":"tag-bhp","11":"tag-endangered-species","12":"tag-environment","13":"tag-ghost-bat","14":"tag-mining","15":"tag-new-zealand","16":"tag-newzealand","17":"tag-northern-quoll","18":"tag-nz","19":"tag-olive-python","20":"tag-pilbara-news","21":"tag-rio-tinto","22":"tag-science"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232230","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=232230"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/232230\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/232231"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=232230"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=232230"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=232230"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}