SNOUTS, SPOTS AND SPECIAL DAYS
Save the date
Stand up for nature in March!
- 1 March: Clean Up Australia Day
- 22 March for Forests
- 23 March National Eucalypt Day
- 28 March Earth Hour
- 30 March International Zero Waste Day
Spot the quolls!
Eastern Quolls are endangered and have been extinct on the Australian mainland since 1963 – the only wild population is in Tasmania! Despite the quoll’s camouflage (see Nature Kids Winter 2024), key threats to quolls are predators like feral cats and foxes.
At the end of January 2026, four Eastern Quoll joeys were released at Bannockburn Rewilding Sanctuary on the NSW South Coast. They join 15 other quolls released in 2025 as part of the Invasive Species Council’s Rewilding Australia conservation program.
Researchers are monitoring the newly-released quolls using GPS technology to track their movements, survival and ecological impact. Their findings will guide future rewilding efforts in the hope that Eastern quolls can one day survive in NSW beyond predator-free fenced environments.
Watch a video of the young quolls being released
Wombat poo mysteries revealed
Fact: Wombat poo is square and comes out that way because of the shape and structure of a wombat’s lower intestine.
But did you know that wombats use their poo to communicate with eachother?! This is called “olfactory communication”.
In research recently published in the Journal of Zoology, scientists found that bare nosed wombats have a “vomeronasal organ”, sometimes described as a second (internal) nose, which they use to detect pheromones and other chemicals for social cues, mating, and predator or prey detection. Wombat scats/droppings are individually distinct, and scientists think that’s probably how these short-sighted animals tell each other apart!
Fun fact
Other animals with a second nose include snakes, lizards, rodents, horses, cattle, dogs and cats!
Find out more about wombat snouts
Habitat destruction report card fail
The Australian Conservation Foundation’s Extinction Wrapped 2025 report found that more than 57,000 hectares of threatened species habitat was approved for land clearing by the Australian Government in 2025 – that’s the highest level of destruction in 15 years and10 times the area of Sydney Harbour! According to the report, two-thirds of that area was approved for clearing by the mining industry.
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