Woylie declines

The Woylie (Bettongia penicillata) is a small marsupial endemic to Australia. While previously found across much of Central and Southern Australia, the species has gone through two significant reductions in abundance.

Population declines were first observed in the 1960s, but were halted when an extensive program of fox baiting in the 1980s led to substantive recoveries. In 1996 the species became the first Australian taxon to be removed from threatened species lists as a result of conservation interventions.

However in the years following 1999, the species has again undergone rapid declines, as is now listed as a Critically Endangered species on the IUCN Red List. The factors driving declines in Woylie abundance are, as yet, uncertain.