News and Media Releases
Measuring a baby Southern hairy nosed wombat
31 Mar 2009
Wombats Receive Conservation Award
Media Release
A long term study of Southern hairy-nosed wombats has been occurring in the Murraylands examining population dynamics, assisted reproduction, seasonal breeding patterns, disease and their relationship to climatic variables, with the hope that this research will assist both the Southern and the critically endangered Northern hairy-nosed wombat.
Chief Executive Officer of Zoos South Australia, Dr Chris West said, “Winning an ARAZPA award for our science based conservation work is a signal honour as it demonstrates how Zoos SA's Conservation Ark program is recognized by fellow conservationists as being world class.
“We are proud to win an ARAZPA award for just one of our many science-based conservation projects. This sort of work is at the heart of all we do,” he said.
ARAZPA links over 70 zoos and aquariums across Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific in a network for wildlife conservation, environmental education and wildlife research. The peer awards recognise those who have excelled in their conservation endeavours throughout the year.
Zoos South Australia’s Principal Scientist and programme coordinator Dr David Taggart said, “In the mid 1990’s we used to see about 100-120 wombats per night spotlighting. Then following the drought in the late 1990’s through to 2002 the Southern hairy-nosed wombat population in the Murraylands crashed by about 70-80%. Now we see about 40 animals per night and the drought goes on.
“Southern hairy nosed wombats are as tough as boot leather and superbly adapted for life in a harsh, semiarid environment but despite how tough they are, I am concerned for the long term future of this cryptic, semi fossorial, nocturnal marsupial in a world facing rapid climate change.
“These animals can’t rapidly move great distances like red kangaroos because wombat survival is tied to their burrows. You can’t readily pick up and move burrows and warren systems that may have taken generations of wombats to construct if the climate all of a sudden changes for the worst,” Dr Taggart said.
Page Last Updated September 7, 2010, 2:35 am