{"id":249995,"date":"2025-10-25T03:56:16","date_gmt":"2025-10-25T03:56:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/249995\/"},"modified":"2025-10-25T03:56:16","modified_gmt":"2025-10-25T03:56:16","slug":"trail-camera-captures-rare-footage-of-animal-who-hasnt-been-seen-since-the-90s","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/249995\/","title":{"rendered":"Trail Camera Captures Rare Footage Of Animal Who Hasn’t Been Seen Since The 90s"},"content":{"rendered":"

Recently, in Australia\u2019s Kosciuszko National Park, a unique nocturnal marsupial ran through the darkness, expertly navigating his surroundings. He stopped for a moment in a clearing, then darted away, continuing his evening.<\/p>\n

The animal had no idea that he\u2019d just passed a hidden camera planted by a team of scientists, and he was about to give them the surprise of a lifetime.<\/p>\n

\"rareNPWS<\/p>\n

The visitor was a long-footed potoroo, one of the rarest mammals in New South Wales, a species who hadn\u2019t been seen in the area since the 1990s.<\/p>\n

Researchers were thrilled.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis important discovery of the long-footed potoroo is a promising sign for the long-term survival of this critically endangered species,\u201d environment minister Penny Sharpe told Yahoo News<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"rareNPWS<\/p>\n

According to the NSW Government Office of Environment & Heritage<\/a>, long-footed potoroos are about the size of a rabbit, and they\u2019re known for their long noses and almost-hairless tails. These animals once thrived in moist forests, but their numbers dwindled over the years due a variety of factors, including increased predation, wood harvesting and habitat fragmentation.<\/p>\n

Losing long-footed potoroos was devastating not just for animal lovers, but for the environment as well. As Humane World for Animals notes<\/a>, long-footed potoroos are \u201cecosystem engineers.\u201d The marsupials primarily eat fungi, which they find by turning over the dirt. These excavations maintain aeration in the soil, contributing to the growth of forest plants.<\/p>\n

Seeing a long-footed potoroo in this area is an encouraging sign that conservation efforts in the region have been working. Scientists are hopeful that this is only the beginning of this positive trend.<\/p>\n

\u201cAnother potential [potoroo] population is encouraging for the species’ long-term survival, as it reduces the risk of extinction by feral predators, and by natural hazards like bushfires,\u201d NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service wrote in a Facebook post<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Hopefully one day, if all goes according to plan, seeing a long-footed potoroo in this forest won\u2019t be so surprising.<\/p>\n

\"Scientists<\/a>Scientists Find Rare ‘Barbie-Pink’ Animal Living In Deep Underwater CanyonWhy do you think they\u2019re pink?<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Recently, in Australia\u2019s Kosciuszko National Park, a unique nocturnal marsupial ran through the darkness, expertly navigating his surroundings.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":249996,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[3192,616,192,3191,127712,79,615,613,201],"class_list":{"0":"post-249995","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-animal-encounters","9":"tag-daily-dodo","10":"tag-environment","11":"tag-maeve-dunigan","12":"tag-rare-animals","13":"tag-science","14":"tag-standard","15":"tag-the-dodo","16":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249995","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249995"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249995\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/249996"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249995"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249995"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249995"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}