Gilbert´s Potoroo Radio Tracking Expedition. February 2024. Two People´s Bay, South Western Australia.
I recognise and acknowledge Aboriginal Noongar Menang peoples as the traditional owners of Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve.
Over a fortnight, a rigorous radio-tracking study was conducted on the critically endangered Gilbert's potoroo or Ngilkat (Potorous gilbertii) within the confines of Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve. The project involved two cohorts, each comprising twelve volunteers, who diligently worked nocturnally for seven consecutive days. Their primary objective was to monitor the nocturnal activities of four individual animals using advanced radio-tracking techniques.
The project is a collaboration with @ParksAndWildlifeWA and funded by Gilbert´s Potoroo Action Group (GPAG) @PotorooOrg 2019 State Natural Resource Management Program Western Australia grant. It will help the Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions (DBCA) learn more about the Potoroo's habitat use and movement patterns, particularly in areas burnt in the catastrophic fire in 2015 at Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve, South Western Australia.
Special thanks to Dr Tony Friend, Research Associate with DBCA/Parks and Wildlife Service, Western Australia, and Dr Jackie Courtenay, Communications Coordinator with Gilbert's Potoroo Action Group (GPAG) for their support and guidance throughout this project. 🙏
Gilbert's potoroo or Ngilkat (Potorous gilbertii) is Australia's most endangered marsupial, the rarest marsupial in the world, and one of the world's rarest critically endangered mammals, found in south-western Western Australia.
It is a small nocturnal macropod that lives in small groups. It was thought to be extinct for much of the 20th century, having not been spotted for around a century, until its rediscovery in 1994.
The only naturally located population is found in Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve in Western Australia, where they co-exist with other marsupials such as quokkas (Setonix brachyurus), but in 2015 a huge fire destroyed 90% of their habitat.
Small insurance populations were established at Bald Island, off Albany, and more recently on Middle Island, off Esperance, all on the southern coast of Western Australia.
Numbers have increased in recent years, and as of December 2023, the entire population was estimated to comprise around 150 individuals, with 20+ on Middle Island, 100 on Bald Island, between 25 and 30 at a purpose-built enclosure in Waychinicup National Park in 2010 and around 10 at Two Peoples Bay (also known as the Mt Gardner population).
