Museum archives reveal South Australia had three kinds of bandicoot, not one, including a species that vanished a century ago
ABC's local reporting on what a national bandicoot study means for the animals people see in their backyards.
What happened: A study in the Australian Journal of Taxonomy finds the southern brown bandicoot lives only in South Australia's south-east; bandicoots in the Mount Lofty Ranges, Fleurieu Peninsula and on Kangaroo Island are a separate subspecies related to Western Australia's quenda, ABC News reports. Researchers using museum skeletons, records and thousands of sequenced genes also described a third species, the little brown bandicoot (Isoodon microtis) of the Eyre Peninsula, now believed extinct.
Why it matters: The southern brown bandicoot is listed as endangered, and the SA Museum's Steven Cooper says the newly separated subspecies may need a conservation reassessment.
How much agreement is there? Broad agreement among the researchers and conservationists quoted that the remaining small, isolated populations are at risk from land clearing, foxes and cats.
Could someone help? Keeping thick ground cover in gardens and bushland and controlling foxes and cats address the threats the researchers name.
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Shifting baseline
After exploring New subspecies discovery for South Australian bandicoots - ABC News, the idea one conservationist raises is explained in Shifting baseline.
How judging change against recent reference points can hide much larger changes from an earlier state that is no longer remembered.
Wikipedia · Wade · 5 min
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Southern brown bandicoot
After exploring New subspecies discovery for South Australian bandicoots - ABC News, the animal is profiled in Southern brown bandicoot.
A short-nosed bandicoot of southern Australia; the Western Australian quenda was elevated from subspecies to species in 2018.
Wikipedia · Wade · 5 min
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