Paul Hales and Roger Martin will see if the elusive creature has found a home at Fan Palm Reserve. Photo by Leanne Hales.The dense rainforest region of the Daintree may be concealing a population of the elusive Bennett’s tree kangaroo after one was recently spotted in the area.
Bush Heritage is participating in a new research project into how far south in Queensland’s Daintree River lowland forests the near threatened Bennett’s tree kangaroo may exist.
After a sighting of a juvenile close to Palm Road in the Daintree, tree roo expert and author Roger Martin visited Bush Heritage’s Fan Palm Reserve in northern Queensland to investigate the southern range of this iconic Australian marsupial.
Roger is using Fan Palm Reserve to carry out preliminary fieldwork to determine whether there could be a resident population living in or near the reserve.
The work will inform efforts to protect one of the most iconic but rarely seen species of the Daintree region.
Bennett’s tree kangaroo (Dendrolagus bennettianus), Australia’s largest arboreal mammal, is only found in a relatively small area of forest (around 2,000 square km) north of the Daintree River.
Largely because it occupies such a small area, its conservation status is listed as ‘near threatened’.
“What little we know of its biology comes from field studies that I conducted in the vine forests and gallery forests of the Annan River valley further north,” says Roger Martin. “In this area, female home ranges are between six and 11ha in size.”
“We use these home range sizes to make estimates of population size in the different types of forest that Bennett’s use.”
“At this time we have no information on the size of their ranges in lowland forests and that's a question that I'm currently trying to address.”
Martin will set up camera traps on the property in an effort to confirm the presence of the rare species. He’ll be especially looking for breeding females accompanied by their young.
“If successful with this, I'll then establish transect lines, and using volunteers, systematically walk these lines to collect tree-kangaroo faecal pellets. These can be analysed for DNA and used to identify individual animals.
“With GPS data on the precise location of the collection site of the pellets, estimates can then be made of the home ranges of the animals, and extrapolating from these, an estimate of the size of the population.”
The outcomes of Roger’s research could help inform our efforts to conserve one of the most iconic species living in the rainforests of the Daintree region.
BUSHTRACKS 21/12/2015
At first glance, the striped legless lizard looks like a tiny colourful snake, with pink sides and a yellow throat. But its thick, fleshy tongue is unforked, it has visible ears, and two scaly flaps as hind legs. It munches on moths, crickets and spiders, and can spring more than 10cm into the air.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 21/12/2015
Out on Bon Bon Station Reserve, the heat can sear your skin and leave you breathless. And yet this massive piece of land, which rivals the size of Sydney, is home to some of Australia’s most extraordinary creatures like the southern hairy-nosed wombat and the rare chestnut breasted whiteface. Here's how we manage wildfire risk for Bon Bon’s diverse plants and animals.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 21/12/2015
The Tasmanian Midlands is a biodiversity hotspot, and refuge for dozens of nationally threatened species and nearly 200 plants and animals threatened in Tasmania.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 21/12/2015
'We’re operating in a really important part of the continent,' says Bush Heritage’s Gondwana Link Landscape Manager Simon Smale. 'The area we’re working in now has been quite badly fragmented by a burst of clearing from agricultural development. We’re progressively buying and conserving properties to protect the bush that is left.'
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 21/12/2015
The Northern quoll, a nationally endangered species, had never before been recorded in the rainforests, or wulo, of Wunambal Gaambera Country. To see a healthy population is exciting, and demonstrates the good results coming from our partnership with the Wunambal Gaambera Aboriginal Corporation.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 21/12/2015
In West Arnhem Land, we are working with the Nawarddeken people whose Indigenous Protected Area covers 1.4 million hectares of natural and cultural treasures. A biodiversity survey was conducted over 10 days in Baby Dreaming Country, a significant cultural site in the northern region of the Warddeken Indigenous Protected Area (IPA), a full day’s drive from Darwin.
Read MoreBUSHTRACKS 21/12/2015
There’s no doubt that Bush Heritage volunteers are some of the best in the business. They roll up their sleeves to pull weeds. They battle aching muscles and clammy heat to plant seedlings. And they spend hours pouring over documents to help with our research. So it made perfect sense to tap into their knowledge and expertise with the establishment of our very first Volunteer Advisory Committee.
Read More
