Hi-tech nesting boxes to save iconic Australian gliders from extinction

16 June 2022

Published by: https://www.bignewsnetwork.com

AUSTRALIA – CANBERRA, June 16 (Xinhua) — Australian researchers have developed hi-tech nesting boxes to help gliding marsupials recover from the brink of extinction.

The Australian National University (ANU) on Wednesday announced a new partnership with environmentalist groups Greening Australia and the World Wide Fund for Nature Australia to help greater gliders in the wake of the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires.

Approximately one-third of the greater glider habitat burned during the Black Summer, prompting significant concerns over the species’ survival.

Greater gliders, which are three species of nocturnal gliding marsupials found along Australia’s east coast, nest in tree hollows in eucalypt forests that can take over 100 years to form naturally.

“In the past 20 years we have seen an 80 percent decline in greater glider populations and these recent bushfires have been devastating. So undertaking this recovery work is not only critical to support this already vulnerable species, but it’s also very important and personal to me,” Drew Liepa, Greening Australia senior program officer, said in a media release.

The hi-tech nesting boxes, which weigh 15 kilograms each, are fully insulated to prevent the gliders from experiencing heat stress.

Great gliders that do experience heat stress eat less and with low-fat stores can perish within days.

They will be monitored by ANU researchers to assess whether they can help increase population numbers.

“Producing and installing high-quality nest boxes is costly so this project is very important because it will help us understand if expensive interventions like nest boxes are the best use of funding in our urgent mission to save greater gliders,” ANU’s research fellow Kara Youngentob said.