Rangers are celebrating the sighting of a mammal once thought to be extinct in the Australian island it is native to.
The echidna is an egg-laying, insect-eating mammal that is a native species to Lungtalanana Island off the coast of Tasmania in Australia. It is also known as a trimanya among Tasmanian Aboriginal people.
After a wildfire devastated the island in 2014, conservationists believed that the animal was locally extinct. To the delight of local rangers from the Tasmanian Aboriginal Center, an echidna was recently caught on trail cameras.
"The importance of having trimanya back on the island is monumental," said Kulai Sculthorpe, a ranger supervisor with the center, in a news release from the World Wildlife Fund.
Trail cameras are an essential tool for conservationists to track populations and manage endangered species without disturbing wildlife. Species management is crucial to maintaining healthy ecosystems, which directly impacts the livelihoods of the humans who live in them.
The Tasmanian Aboriginal Center has been on a mission to restore the island after years of destruction from bushfires and the effects of European colonization. This mission involves bringing back culturally significant native species that are believed to be locally extinct, such as the echidna.
Rangers from the center are now trying to determine if there are more echidnas on Lungtalanana Island.
Echidnas are important to the local ecosystem because they help improve soil that has been depleted of nutrients from years of bad farming practices, according to Australian Geographic. This promotes plant growth and keeps carbon in the soil rather than the atmosphere.
Soil health plays a factor in extreme weather events, such as wildfires, which can displace humans and animals. Soil with low moisture can cause plants to stop growing and dry out, creating fuel for these fires, according to Mirage News.
Rob Brewster, rewilding program manager at WWF-Australia, said in a news release that echidnas "push leaves and seeds underground, enriching soil – they can turn over about seven tons a year."
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Absolutely 💯 "Animals like wombats and echidnas are ecosystem engineers," Brewster said, adding, "Their return will be an important milestone for this ambitious venture."
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