Cross-fostering Gilbert's potoroo

摘要

In late 1994, the exciting news of the rediscovery of Gilbert's potoroo (Potorous gilbertii), a small rat-kangaroo thought to be extinct by the early 1900s, hit the headlines. This one-kilogram animal, which had only been known from a few specimens collected on the south coast of Western Australia, had clung to life in a tiny population on the slopes of Mount Gardner, in Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve east of Albany. Immediately, a captive Gilbert's potoroo colony was established at Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve to insure these precious mammals against a large wildfire in the habitat-just a single lightning strike and consequent wildfire could have wiped them out. The captive colony would also enable the potoroos to be bred for translocation to new sites and thus increase their chances of long-term survival.