Baby numbats spotted at two wildlife sanctuaries in hopeful sign for one of Australia’s rarest marsupials | Endangered species

Numb babies have been spotted in two wildlife reserves in southwest New South Wales, sparking hopes for one of Australia’s rarest marsupials.

Video captured by the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) shows some juveniles exploring outside their den in Mallee Cliffs National Park.

Five numbats, including quadruplet siblings, were spotted at Mallee Cliffs and two more at Scotia Wildlife Reserve. Wildlife Conservation is working with national park staff at both sites on projects to reintroduce the species to predator-free areas.

Brad Leue, the videographer and photographer who captured the footage at Mallee Cliffs, said he watched the animals explore the outside of the family’s den, which has an opening the size of a coffee cup.

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“I had the chance to observe them for a few days and get a feel for their routine, which involved sharing a den with mom at night, venturing outside around 8 a.m., and playing within 50 yards of their house while mom hunted termites,” Leue said.

Rachel Ladd, a wildlife ecologist at the AWC, said the babies were always a special find, “especially for a species as difficult to spot in the wild as the numbnut”.

“Seeing seven numb young ones lets us know that the population is breeding under favorable environmental conditions and becoming more established.”

Numbats are one of Australia’s rarest marsupials and are classified as endangered by national laws.

Unlike other Australian marsupials, they are active during the day and feed exclusively on termites.

Numbs were once found across much of arid and semi-arid Australia, but by the 1970s they had disappeared from most places except isolated areas of south-west Western Australia, due to predation by wild animals, such as foxes and cats, and habitat destruction.

They are listed as extinct in New South Wales, but projects such as those at Mallee Cliffs and the Scotia Sanctuary are reintroducing the animals to re-establish populations in parts of their former range.

The AWC said the five juveniles at Mallee Cliffs are believed to be the great-great-grandchildren of a cohort of numbnuts reintroduced to the national park in 2020.

“It was surreal to see four siblings in one place,” said Michael Daddow, AWC land management manager.

“They were walking around, falling asleep and playing with each other. The bravest of them even ran up to me to see me before running back – they weren’t scared at all.”

The other two babies were observed running around logs at the Scotia Wildlife Reserve in Barkindji Country, where the species was reintroduced in the late 1990s. The AWC said this sighting, along with other recent sightings of numbskulls at that sanctuary, gave conservation officers optimism that the population was recovering after a decline triggered by the 2018-19 drought in the lower Murray-Darling region.