A tiny but tenacious pouched predator is on the comeback trail in South Australia, punching above its weight in the fight to save carnivorous native marsupials from extinction.
While not as well-known as the Tasmanian devil, quoll or numbat, the red-tailed phascogale shares their taste for meat and is exposed to the same risks of extinction due to habitat loss and predation by foxes and cats.
Also known as wambengers or mousesacks, phascogales were found only in the southwest woodlands of Western Australia and had not been recorded in the wild in South Australia for many years.
Forty-five red-tailed phascogales were reintroduced into the Gawler Ranges National Park on the northern Eyre Peninsula in May and 30 phascogales were born into the wild during winter.
Another 40 phascogales from Alice Springs Desert Park and Cleland Wildlife Park's captive breeding programs will be released in November and next April.
The red-tailed phascogale, which has a distinctive reddish-brown tail, is a small but feisty predator that lives on a diet of mice, insects, birds and reptiles. They live largely in trees, particularly mallee and black oak woodlands.
SA's Department for Environment and Water says the released phascogales are faring well in an unfenced but predator-reduced wilderness.
Since European colonisation, it's estimated that 73 species – 41 plants and 32 animals – have become extinct in SA.
The determined efforts of government scientists and state and national conservation groups and volunteers had given the phascogale a much brighter future, SA Environment Minister Susan Close said.
"Research into habitat requirements and diet has helped scientists learn more about the species and implement projects like this to get red-tailed phascogales to be successful in the wild once again," she said.
The department and the Foundation for Australia's Most Endangered Species are working together on scientific research, captive breeding programs, large-scale feral predator control and radio tracking of the reintroduced phascogales.
Cleland's phascogale captive breeding program has this year nurtured another 50 young, many of which will be released in the Gawler Ranges in November.
A key element to the department's 30-year Bounceback project is managing threats to species by reducing fox and cat numbers and managing goat numbers.
After years of determined effort, the western quoll, the brushtailed possum and now the phascogale are thriving in northern areas of SA and extinction had been headed off, the foundation's chief executive Tracy McNamara said.
"This program is a wonderful example of what can be achieved by committed, capable and like-minded partners," she said.
