Getting creative and a little dirty in efforts to protect the rare species
Conservationists were tangled in sticky tape and elbow-deep in wombat faeces in the lead up to National Wombat Day (22 October 2024).
A team of ecologists at Australian Wildlife Conservancy and researchers from the University of Adelaide were collecting scat and hair samples from the wombat population at Richard Underwood Nature Refuge (RUNR), outside of St George, Queensland on Mandandanji Country. The refuge was established in 2009 by Queensland Government’s Department of Environment, Science and Innovation and is home to one of only three populations of the Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat. AWC assumed management of RUNR in 2023 as part of a historic agreement with the government.
“We don’t know much about the wombat population at RUNR, including how many individuals are currently living here,” said Dr Jennifer Pierson, AWC Senior Ecologist. “There are a lot of basic but important questions that we need to answer in order to protect the species and reviewing their DNA through scat and hair samples will help us get some answers.”
There was just one problem – how do you collect samples from a notoriously skittish species?
The team deployed a nifty ‘hair trapping’ technique that enabled them to collect hair samples without disrupting the wombats. Placed outside the entrance of 105 active burrows, the traps resembled rugby goal posts with two vertical posts on either side of the burrow and a piece of double-sided sticky tape stretched horizontally between them.
The tape hovered about 10-15cm above the bottom of the burrow entrance and brushed the backs of the wombats as they emerged for the evening, collecting a few strands of hair along the way. Ecologists collected the tape daily during the week-long survey, and with tweezers transferred each strand one-by-one into small vials for analysis.
“It was quite a successful survey,” said Dr Pierson. “We have 350 strands of hair to test but more importantly, it was a non-intrusive method of collecting samples from the wombats,” said Dr Pierson.
The team alternated work on the hair census with collecting scat samples as a secondary DNA source. Wearing elbow-length rubber gloves, the team collected over 50 samples of super fresh wombat poo.
“Collecting wombat poo was surprisingly, kind of fun,” laughed Dr Pierson. “To work as a DNA sample, the scat needed to be fresh, so we were handling really moist and glistening wombat poo.”
“Fortunately, wombats tend to do their business outside their burrows, making the scat relatively easy to find.”
The scat and hair samples were transferred to the University of Adelaide for analysis. Once complete, the DNA will provide AWC with rich information about the RUNR population including the size, the genetic diversity and the parentage of offspring born at the refuge. AWC will also be able to identify breeding individuals, whether there are one or two dominant males and how many wombats are using each burrow.
“We can also get an idea of how many new individuals we have at the refuge by comparing new DNA samples to ones taken by the wombats originally released in 2009,” Dr Pierson added.
“By simply coming out here and putting out some sticky tape, we’re able to learn so much about the population. We can really figure out how Australian Wildlife Conservancy can best contribute to their conservation and how we can work with others for the bigger picture protection of the species.”
The hair and scat samples could take up to five months to be analysed. For more information on AWC’s work at RUNR, click here.
Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) is a global leader in conservation, providing hope to Australia’s wildlife with a science-informed, land management partnership model that delivers high impact results. AWC is a national leader in landscape scale conservation land management, reintroductions of threatened species and the establishment of feral predator-free areas.
The Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat is the largest burrowing mammal in the world and is critically endangered with an estimated population now of 400 individuals. Once found in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland, the decline in wombats has been associated with the clearing of their preferred open eucalypt woodland habitat for grazing and competition with livestock and rabbits, and predation. By 1982, the last natural stronghold for the species was at Epping Forest National Park (Scientific) in central Queensland with around 35 individuals; instigating an intensive research and recovery effort.
A second population was established by the Queensland Government’s Department of Environment, Science and Innovation at RUNR in 2009, followed by a third population at Powrunna State Forest earlier this year which was conducted in partnership with the Gunggari Native Title Aboriginal Corporation, Gunggari Native Title Holders and The Wombat Foundation.
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