You're protecting our little wonders

Dr Rebecca Diete, Bush Heritage ecologist

Scurrying through the spinifex, burrowing in sand dunes and rummaging through fallen foliage is an incredible range of animals unique to our continent.

Over millennia, native marsupials such as the Mulgara, Dunnart, Honey Possum and Red-tailed Phascogale have become established across the continent, becoming an essential part of the habitats in which they live.

 

Like their cousins, the Mulgaras, Dunnarts are carnivorous; they live on a diet of grasshoppers and other insects, small reptiles, amphibians and spiders.

They don’t need to drink water because they get all the liquid they need from their prey.

 

The toughness and adaptability of the Dunnart is typical of many of Australia’s tiny marsupials. Not only have they evolved to survive the intense heat and long dry periods that characterise the desert, but they've thrived.

Our birdlife is equally adaptable, with thousands of native species bringing colour and majesty to the trees and grasslands of mainland Australia, and our coastal islands.

But today many of Australia’s native birds and mammals are fighting for survival.

When European settlers arrived on the continent, the land clearing that followed significantly altered Australia’s natural landscape, causing habitat loss for many of our native species.

 

The settlers also brought with them a new, predatory threat – cats and foxes. In just two centuries, the populations of native mammals and birds have been catastrophically affected by these changes, with some species now gone forever.

Across Bush Heritage’s network of reserves and partnerships however, our programs are protecting habitats and reducing threats to Dunnarts, Mulgaras and other species, so they can once again thrive.

You are now part of a passionate community making a difference in the lives of our most vulnerable and vital species.