Happy New Year Yellow Foot Friends,

AWC's team of scientists along with a contingent of 5 volunteer Rangers and some keen local naturalists recently completed our first comprehensive survey of Buckaringa Wildlife Sanctuary in the rugged Flinders Ranges of South Australia.

The team's commitment to meticulous inventory was quickly put to the test as the rough terrain, remote location and extreme conditions threw up some very interesting challenges. For example, how do you install pitfall traps at Buckaringa in the unyielding rock of the Flinders Ranges? The answer entailed several weeks on the end of a jackhammer. (Pitfall traps are broad PVC tubes sunk into the ground. Lengths of 30cm high drift fence guide animals into the ‘pit', where they wait for an ecologist to retrieve and release them).

The Range Country proved to be a natural treasure trove for the team and the results of the survey were impressive. Indeed, the team recorded over 100 flora species and 117 native fauna species, including:

• 73 birds;
• 14 mammals;
• 29 reptiles; and
• 1 frog.

Seven of these birds, nine of the mammals, the frog and all of the reptiles were new records for the Sanctuary!

AWC has also been keeping a watchful eye on Buckaringa's population of endangered Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies, particularly after the searing heat of November where temperatures tipped 48°C. Keith Bellchambers noticed more Yellow Foots utilising the natural watering points on the property than usual: on one occasion, he counted eleven of them enjoying a drink together. The Yellow Foots survived November's brutal heat and pouch young are still to be seen which is very encouraging.

The Yellow Foots' chances of survival have been significantly enhanced through AWC's efforts to improve their habitat and reduce the key threats to their survival. For example, AWC participated in a regional program that saw over 4000 feral goats removed from the district, including 100 that had wondered onto Buckaringa Sanctuary last May. As a result native Blue Bush and Ice-cream plants are making a strong come-back and can be seen flowering and setting seed. The team remain vigilant about foxes that steal Yellow Foot young: Keith removed four of the culprits in the first week of December alone.

Over the summer, the team are working on our next priority actions. Data from our first ever biological inventory of Buckaringa is currently being analysed and a comprehensive conservation management plan that will protect all of the native wildlife on Buckaringa will be instigated. Importantly, the data we now have will enable AWC to develop a strategy to protect not only the endangered Yellow Foot population on Buckaringa, but the regional population as well.

AWC would like to thank Optus, its staff and customers for their generosity and support which has made a real difference in helping us to secure the Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby for future generations of Australians.

Welcome back Yellow Foot Friends,

This month the AWC science team is preparing for its first ever comprehensive survey of AWC's Buckaringa Wildlife Sanctuary in South Australia – home to one of Australia's most critically important populations of endangered Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies.

Wildlife surveys are an important part of AWC's National Science Program. They allow us to measure progress against our mission which is, to protect all native Australian species and their habitats. They also provide invaluable data for monitoring ecological change on sanctuaries, particularly the response of wildlife to conservation management practices.

This survey is therefore vital to AWC's long-term management of Buckaringa and will expand our knowledge of the flora and fauna that exist within this region. Importantly, the survey will also assess how our management strategy of the Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby affects other species that find refuge there.

The survey will be undertaken over a 2 week period in October 2009 and will take 6 AWC science staff and 2 volunteers out into the field to set up 18 monitoring sites across a range of habitat types that occur on Buckaringa Sanctuary.

Since the southern half of Australia has, tragically, suffered the worst record of mammal extinctions on the continent, biological surveys, such as this one, are increasingly important to the future of Australia's native wildlife – many of which only barely cling to survival. By determining all the native species that find refuge on Buckaringa's rocky terrain, AWC can implement an effective strategy for protecting all of them over the long term.

We look forward to updating you on the remarkable species that co-exist with our Yellow Footed friends on Buckaringa. Certainly they all have an interesting story to tell. Not many people are aware for example that the Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby was first described to science by John Eyre in 1840.

Of course YFRW have been well established in Aboriginal culture and traditions for many generations. The Adnyamathanha, or Hills people, who inhabited the Flinders Ranges for example, knew the Yellow Foots as “Andu.” Andu, which was then abundant, was hunted for meat and for its valuable by-products such as its tail sinew which was used for making ropes and its pelt which was used for clothing.

However, its beauty proved a handicap for the Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby. Following their discovery by John Eyre, European settlers began harvesting them for their stunning pelts, which were shipped by the hundred from Adelaide to London. The lucrative trade continued into the 1950's, long after they were formally protected in South Australia in 1912, and precipitated a population decline.

Since settlement, over one third of the known populations of Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies have disappeared, and the typical size of remaining colonies has plummeted from around 100 individuals to less than 20. As a result the species is listed as threatened with extinction.

Significantly, the population of surviving Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies at Buckaringa acts as a population linkage between the larger northern and southern Flinders Ranges populations. As such they are crucial to the survival of the species as a whole. By protecting this population we are offering new hope for the future of the Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby.

To learn more about how AWC is giving the YFRW new hope visit our website
 

Welcome back Yellow Foot Friends,

We have some exciting news!  This month we have compiled the movements of all four of our Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies that wore the special radio-transmitting collars at Backaringa Wildlife Sanctuary.

By mapping their movements we now know that the three female Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies remained in small areas around Buckaringa’s Main Gorge.  Whilst the male Yellow Foot spent most of his time in Main Gorge, he also travelled through to Buckaringa Gorge for periods of time. 

This is an important finding as it illustrates that there is genetic mixing between Yellow Foot populations in the two gorges.  This reduces some of our concerns about loss of genetic diversity in small Yellow Foot populations. 

Figure 1 is a map of Buckaringa Wildlife Sanctuary and the locations of the four radio collared Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies.  Main Gorge is the core area of the animals whose locations are shown as red, yellow and pale blue, while the pink (male) Yellow Foot also moved south to Buckaringa Gorge. 

Buckaringa’s boundary fence was recently upgraded to exclude goats.  The records of the male (pink) Yellow Foot crossing this fence outside the reserve to the east of the sanctuary in Figure 2 is important as it demonstrates that the fence is not a complete barrier to wallaby movements.  This will be an important consideration in our conservation management of this endangered species.

These maps also give us an insight into the average home ranges of Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies.  Our collared Yellow Foots’ home range averaged 82 hectares each (see figure 3) and, as can be expected, their ranges tend to be centred on Main Gorge and overlap considerably.  Our spatial association analysis suggests that two of the individuals seem to associate with one-another more than expected by chance which leads us to conclude that they may be related. 

More detailed analysis is currently underway to determine the impact of moon, wind and rain on the distances the rock-wallabies travel from their rocky refuges at Buckaringa. Come back in September to find out more about how our Yellow Foots are faring.
 

Dr Joss Bentley no longer works for AWC. Optus appreciates the advice and support of Dr Joss Bentley in the past, however all updates are now provided by the AWC team.

Welcome back Yellow Foot Friends,

How far will a mother Yellow Foot carrying pouch young roam? Well, this month we can answer this question and even show you where this adult female Yellow Foot got to on AWC's Buckaringa Wildlife Sanctuary.

Whilst the male Yellow Foot surprised us with his wide ranging adventures around and even beyond Buckaringa Sanctuary, the data collected in this female Yellow Foot's GPS collar shows us that she was content to remain close to home around Main Gorge. As you'll see from these images, she never once ventured over to visit the Yellow Foot colony that inhabits Buckaringa Gorge. This is probably to be expected given that she had a little joey to look after.

Next month we'll look at whether the other female Yellow Foots without pouch young roamed further afield and how closely they associated with each other. These findings will help us to confirm whether there is any genetic mixing between the two colonies - which is important for the long term survival of this strikingly beautiful mammal.

Meanwhile, we are delighted to report that the population of these endangered mammals at Buckaringa Wildlife Sanctuary is growing and AWC's scientists and Rangers are seeing many new joeys emerging from their mothers' pouches, which is a very encouraging sign.

Feral animals and weeds continue to pose a challenge to the survival of Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies, so in addition to removing predators such as cats and foxes and competitors, (goats) from Buckaringa, AWC is currently undertaking an intensive Wheel Cactus control program that involves mapping and removing this noxious weed from the property.

Wheel Cactus not only destroys habitat, its sharp, spikey thorns can also prove deadly to a range of wildlife, such as Microbats which can become entangled in them. Although the removal of Wheel Cactus is a long term project, Keith Chambers and the team have are dedicated to removing this insidious weed as quickly as possible, and have already removed it from around 20% of the property.

Dr Joss Bentley no longer works for AWC. Optus appreciates the advice and support of Dr Joss Bentley in the past, however all updates are now provided by the AWC team.

Hi Yellow Foot friends and supporters.
Welcome back!

We have some exciting news for you this month, we have analysed the data recorded in the GPS radio collars that our Yellow Foots wore for 3 to 5 months and can now start showing you maps of all their locations and movement patterns during that time.

This month we'll start by examining the movements of one of the male Yellow Foots and we'll call him Jim.

Jim seems to have spent most of his time in Main Gorge, but he also travelled south to visit the Yellow Foot colony that inhabits Buckaringa Gorge. Jim's movement between the two colonies shows that he has quite an extensive range - most likely because he is seeking suitable mates. This is an important finding because it illustrates that there is genetic mixing between the two gorges which reduces our concerns about loss of genetic diversity in small populations.

We've also discovered that Jim made some adventurous excursions beyond Buckaringa, crossing the fence to the east of the sanctuary. Buckaringa's boundary fence was recently upgraded to exclude goats so these records of Jim's fence crossings are important as they illustrate that the fence is not a complete barrier to wallaby movements.

In each of the Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby updates we will be building on these maps - soon we'll know the average size of a Yellow Foot's home range and we'll make some discoveries about just how social these animals are.

In the meantime, our Volunteer Rangers, Adam Gittins and Anna Broome have experienced some extreme weather conditions at Buckaringa recently including scorching hot summer days that soared past 45 degrees, to dust and rain storms. However, the early summer rains this season, have left good grass cover and plenty of shrubs for our Yellow foots to eat. Keith Bellchambers reports that the wallaby populations in both Gorges look very healthy and there are numerous Yellow Foots carrying large pouch young which is very good news for this endangered species.

Fig. 1: Jim's movements from Middle Gorge to the north down to Buckaringa Gorge to the South - and outside the sanctuary to the east!

Fig. 2: The extent of Jim's range on Buckaringa Sanctuary.

Hi Yellow Foot friends and supporters,

Buckaringa celebrated a wonderful Christmas and start to the year, with another above average month of rain. Water now bubbles in streambeds and the ground sports a new hat of furry green. A re-birth of spring and a reduced number of feral animals has made it a prosperous month for our Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies as well as all the other wildlife that find refuge here.

Birds are breeding again, for the second time since spring. Our new volunteers have seen Sacred Kingfishers nesting, a pair of Australasian Grebes as well as the Common Southern Whiteface. They have also spotted plenty of Yellow foot juveniles during the middle of the day which is unusual. Most Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies are seen during cooler times of the day: late afternoon, dusk or at night.

Over the past month AWC has removed 58 goats, a cat and a fox from Buckaringa. Cats and foxes kill our native Yellow-footed Rock wallabies, while goats compete with them for food and shelter. Goats have even been observed physically expelling Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies from shelter.

Shelter is important for the Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby to protect them from summer heat and predators. That's why Buckaringa's semi-arid country, with its rocky outcrops, which provide great shelter, is such good habitat for them. Their remarkable agility in this type of country also enables them to escape predators more readily when pursued.

Did you know that the soles of their feet have thick, rough pads of skin resembling a basketball surface? This prevents them from slipping when they bounce easily from rock to rock. They can even climb trees with sloping trunks! Once it lands the Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby opens its short arms and holds them at a right angle to the body until it can balance itself, rather like a tight rope performer.

You may recall from our last update that Keith Bellchambers had located four of the five Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby collars. Since then, despite weeks of persistant searching, the fifth and final collar remains at large. Nevertheless, the four remaining collars will provide us with sufficient information on the movement patterns of Buckaringa's Yellow Foots to answer some important questions. Perhaps there isn't enough food in one gorge, and more in another; or more feral animals in one place and not another. These movement patterns are very helpful to inform management decisions on Buckaringa.

Over the next two months we'll start analyzing the data. So, come back in March to find out how the Buckaringa Sanctuary rates to the Yellow Foots!

Buckaringa's spring broke dramatically with thunderstorms. The usual dry and hot days of summer have been peppered with rain and muggy weather has become the norm. This hasn't made the job of finding the special Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby collars easy.

Last month Keith Bellchambers and Jackson Airey found two of the five Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby collars. You will recall that in total, we caught, collared and released five Yellow footed Rock wallabies at Buckaringa with special radio collars. These collars were timed to drop off approximately three months or so after they were first fitted. They contain valuable information about where the Yellow Foots have been over the past few months.

This month two more radio collars had dropped off. The first was easy to find, however the second collar was a different story. Once again Keith and Jackson spent many hours clambering over boulders and up and down rocky escarpments, but still no luck! Even following the 'blips' from the radio tracker didn't help.

In fact Keith spotted everything but the radio collar: three Tawny Frog Mouths (a type of owl); an abundance of snakes and a number of juvenile Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby joeys. The increase in the number of joeys is probably due to the favorable conditions and recent abundance of food.

There is no distinct breeding season for the Yellow Foots. Births can occur at any time especially when conditions are favourable. However there are indications that the Yellow Foots are semi-seasonal, this is due to more births tending to occur in autumn and spring, than at other times of the year and this year is no different. In fact, it seems that the number of Yellow Foot births tends to be influenced by rainfall, as breeding usually occurs after a rain event when food resources become more abundant. Therefore, during times of drought Yellow Foots will struggle to reproduce, which of course puts further pressure on their already declining numbers.

In fact, did you know that Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies have the unique ability to interrupt the development of their embryo? This is called "embryonic diapause" and is often witnessed during a drought. Females carrying pouch young during a drought may lose their larger joey and replace it with one waiting in the uterus. This allows the female to save the valuable nutrition she needs to survive. In severe drought, the female will cease to come into season at all, and the young in utero will fail to develop so no young are born until conditions improve. However, within two weeks of rain the female comes into season and the development of the delayed embryo resumes.

To see more of these endangered mammals hopping around and breeding was a real thrill for the team at Buckaringa. Keith was equally as excited to finally spot the elusive radio collar nestled in a rock crevice. He suspects that the signals released from the radio transmitter bounced off the rocks, confusing the signal. It clearly wasn't the only one!

Come back next month to find out what we're going to do with the data from the collars. In the meantime, thank you all for your support this year. Merry Christmas and Happy New Year everyone. See you back here again in January '09.

Spring is in the air at Buckaringa with the wild flowers blooming, birds nesting and lizards lazing in the sun. It's also an important moment for some of our collared Yellow Footed friends.

As you know five of Buckaringa's Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies are fitted with special radio-transmitting collars. Each collar has a clever built in timer which enables it to drop off the animal once the set period has expired. And that time is now! This is the easy part - the challenge is then to find the collars when they have dropped off the animals.

This month we were searching for two collars that were timed to drop off the Yellow Foots first. Jackson Airey, one of AWC's enthusiastic volunteers and Keith Bellchambers spent a few days clambering over boulders, scaling cliffs and peering down crevices in search of these precious collars that contain valuable information about everywhere these two Yellow Foots have been over the last few months.

Luckily we had a radio tracker on hand. Following its "blips" we first picked up the signal of one of the collared Yellow Foots that was escaping the heat of the sun in a cool cave. It was great to know it was doing fine. We could hardly believe where the next signal took us - to the collar of course. But this one had dropped off on top of the highest rock on the range! Clearly the Yellow Foot which had worn it enjoyed a rock with a view.

We eventually found where the other collar had been discarded which was on one of the lower slopes at the eastern end of Buckaringa's Middle Gorge.

Once we download the data, the collars will then be sent back to the manufacturer for recycling so there is no wastage and we can use them again. We still need to collect three more collars which will all be dropping off the Yellow Foots soon so tune in next month to see how we go with finding them!

As you know, the impressive cliffs, dramatic ridges and two spectacular gorges at AWCs' Buckaringa Wildlife Sanctuary provide vital habitat for one of Australia's largest remaining populations of threatened Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies, but this sanctuary is also important for a number of other reasons.

Buckaringa spans 2000 hectares of the rugged Flinders Ranges and protects eight ecosystems, including a number of threatened ecosystems as well as a rich diversity of rare plants and threatened birds, such as Blue-winged Parrots and Peregrine Falcons.

Until now however, little has been known about Buckaringas' natural treasures. That's why AWC is now conducting an extensive biological survey at Buckaringa. AWCs' dedicated team has started to record all the mammals, birds and reptiles on the property as well as the remarkable range of plant species that are found there too. By better understanding Buckaringas' natural values we can better protect not only the Yellow Foots, but all the threatened wildlife, plants and ecosystems that occur there.

This month the team are digging monitoring pits to see what reptiles turn up. Despite the dry conditions, Spring is inspiring a blaze of colour as the wild flowers bloom and make it easier for the team to identify the rich diversity of plants found on the property. We've also been talking to our neighbours about helping to muster feral goats and prevent them from competing with our Yellow Foots for food and water. This year it's been especially dry with only 120mm of rain having fallen for the year - usually we have double that amount!

Our Yellow Foot Mums are also encouraging their young to take their first steps out of the pouch and into the fresh Spring air. This month Keith Bellchambers saw quite a number of very young Yellow Foots enjoying the sunshine. In fact Buckaringa is a hive of activity at the moment with birds like Australian Kestrels, Welcome Swallows and Southern Whitefaces busy nesting.

Keith also checked on our collared Yellow Foots. He recorded signals from all five of them. Over the next four weeks their collars will begin to drop off. The next challenge will be to retrieve them - not an easy task when you consider the Buckaringas' topography! Next month we'll report on how we've gone with searching and finding the collars. These collars will contain some vitally important data that will help us uncover their movement patterns over the last four months. So tune in next month as we'll have some very exciting news to share with you.

This month Tony Cathcart, or "Magoo" (pictured), as he is affectionately called by the team and AWC's Keith Bellchamber visited Buckaringa to monitor the impact of our feral animal control program and to check on how our Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies were faring.

Keith has over 30 years' experience working with Native Fauna and Rock Wallabies so, together with Magoo's remarkable talent for tracking, they managed to identify 15 Yellow Foots in Buckaringa's Main Gorge, including 3 that were carrying pouch young!

We were feeling very motivated with finding so many Yellow Foots at Main Gorge that Keith then climbed the steep spine of Middle Gorge where he located another 8 animals, including 2 that were carrying pouch young. It was very encouraging to see this many Yellow Foots and their pouch young.

Perhaps it was the calm, fine weather and warmer temperatures that enticed the Yellow Foots out of hiding, but as Magoo looked on from a safe distance, he watched a Yellow Foot mother settle her young juvenile in by a fallen tree. Yellow Foots will often leave their young behind while they forage for food. On this occasion, Magoo watched as a Yellow Foot mother regularly returned to reassure her youngster, before she eventually headed out to find food. It was certainly an endearing sight.

All kinds of animals seem to gravitate towards Magoo so we thought that you would enjoy seeing this image of a Shingleback lizard which found a comfortable resting place on Magoo's leg while he took a rest break at Buckaringa Gorge.

Magoo and Keith also carried out over twelve hours of spotlighting during the cold, dark nights. They were searching for feral animals that pose a lethal threat to the vulnerable Yellow Foots. They spotted three foxes on the prowl but no rabbits or cats. Clearly the feral animal control program is working which is great news for the Yellow Foots.

In addition to spotlighting, Magoo and Keith did some animal tracking. They managed to pick up a radio signal from one of the collared Yellow Foots. It was hiding in a cave so they didn't catch sight of it, but it was reassuring to know it was there all the same. It won't be long now before the radio collars start dropping off and we'll be able to track where the Yellow Foots have been hanging out over the past few months.

Thank you again for your wonderful support. Please keep it up and tune in next month for another update on our precious Yellow Foots.

Following our success in collaring three adult Yellow Foots last month, we continued to focus our trapping program in Middle Gorge. The Yellow Foot population there are now used to the sight of the large wooden traps which, combined with the scent of the wallabies who have previously entered them, encourages new animals to enter.

Kylie and I conducted our trapping program over five consecutive nights and caught two more large adult females. Encouragingly, both were carrying young in their pouches. With so few Yellow Foots left in the wild we need as many new youngsters as possible.

We also recaptured the male and one of the large female Yellow Foots that we collared last month. Although both were clearly doing well, we loosened the collar on the female just to be sure it was completely comfortable and safe for her to wear.

Recent weather conditions are certainly working favourably for our Yellow Foots at the moment too. Buckaringa has enjoyed plenty of rain (55mm!) in recent weeks, so there is plenty of green pick and tasty new shoots for the Yellow Foots to enjoy.

Since we can now track and monitor four adult females and one adult male Yellow Foot from the Middle Gorge population, we are now shifting our focus to the North Gorge Yellow Foot population. We've already placed some new traps there. I'll start free feeding these traps over the next month in order to increase our chances of success.

Dr Joss Bentley no longer works for AWC. Optus appreciates the advice and support of Dr Joss Bentley in the past, however all updates are now provided by the AWC team.

Kylie Goodall, one of AWC's dedicated ecologists and I spent six days trapping Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies at Buckaringa this month. We focused our trapping program on Middle Gorge where a large colony of Yellow Foots have found refuge.

On the first night we trapped a beautiful large female. She weighed in at 5.7kg and was also carrying a juvenile in her pouch. She also qualified as a good candidate to collar. The following night we caught and collared an even larger Yellow Foot.

This female weighed a whopping 7 kg and was again carrying young in her pouch! On the third night we successfully collared a smaller male.

We subsequently caught a few youngsters who were too small to collar, so we checked their health and vital stats before releasing them back into the wild. We also re-captured a juvenile Yellow Foot that we trapped last November. It was great to see she was still in good shape and had increased in weight by 700g, despite the dry summer conditions.

However, after the first few nights of trapping, the older Yellow Foots had wised up and had stopped entering the traps. So with three animals now safely collared we decided to call it a day.

Kylie returned a week later to check on the Yellow Foots and found them coping well with their collars. These collars will now stay on for five months gathering information about every movement the Yellow Foots make. This information is vital for us to better understand the Yellow Foots and then make important decisions about how best to secure their survival for generations.

Dr Joss Bentley no longer works for AWC. Optus appreciates the advice and support of Dr Joss Bentley in the past, however all updates are now provided by the AWC team.