The curious case of the elusive marsupial
Now, I was wondering if you ever fancy yourself as one of those TV detectives who wrap everything up just in time for the end of the show?
If so, I’ve got a challenge for you this Christmas. It’s the curious case of the elusive marsupial.
I’m talking about our friend the Greater Bilby, of course. As you know, they don’t make it easy to know where they are. By day, they’re underground, sleeping in their burrows. At night, when they surface to feed and mate, they’re in the most remote and hostile-to-human areas of Australia – such as far western Queensland, where they are most endangered.
You can’t see them. So, how do you protect them?
The answer is: detective work.
We believe, given that five human years are equivalent to 60 in bilby years, that we need to survey Far West Queensland at least every 5 years to track where bilbies are and where they are not.
It’s simple – to be able to continue to find solutions to protecting our bilbies, we need to understand as much as possible about their current distribution. The last survey was in 2021 and so we need to do as much as we can again to complete this as soon as it cools down enough in 2026.
Right now, we’re flying blind. We have had some really good seasons in Currawinya where, behind the fence (and outside!) bilbies are thriving – the recent census showed heaps of pouch young and healthy adults – but we don’t know what that means for our remaining extant populations.
Have they fared worse or better? What has been the impact of the floods in the channel country where we last saw them?
With bilby numbers a fraction of what they once were, and their habitat spanning only 15-20% of what it once was, it’s never been more important to know where they persist, where they don’t, and why.
That’s why I urgently need your help to carry out the 2026 Bilby survey. This Christmas, please will you help?
The 2026 Bilby survey is the next big challenge for our small but mighty team. And we can’t do it without you.
As a friend of the bilby, you can help us bring in specialist bilby scientists—our Red Dirt Detectives. And you’ll help support them to go deep into western Queensland and track down the current spread of our remaining wild bilby populations.
Unlike TV detectives, there’s no knocking on doors or dramatic interrogations for us. What we do is a lot more gruelling. We’re looking at weeks and weeks of walking two-hectare plots of land, searching for tracks, burrows and poop across a vast, unforgiving landscape where bilbies are few and far between.
The reality of fieldwork: extreme heat, endless red dirt, and hours bent over searching for tracks. It’s not glamorous, but it’s the only way to locate and protect wild bilby populations.
At times, the heat is intense during the day. It’s freezing at night. We drive around in the ute and sleep in swags in a different spot each night — there’s no glamour. But it’s worth it for the bilby. Because you can’t protect what you can’t locate.
But before any of the groundwork can happen, we need to do the aerial survey. We need to hire a local pilot and two trained spotters to fly over the area, photographing bilby scrapings from above. It’s the biggest cost we’re facing, and we need to book this in asap, so we don’t miss our slot.
We need to start as soon as the summer ends and the temperature drops. Please, will you help cover the costs?
Your support is vital because the last survey was in 2021 when we were in the grip of the pandemic. You couldn’t have a conversation without hearing about RAT tests, lockdowns and face masks. State borders were closed and international travel felt like a distant memory.
A lot has changed for us since then. But five years is an even longer timeframe in the biological world of bilby conservation. To put it in context, a lot of the adult bilbies discovered in our last survey sadly won’t be with us anymore, given their six to seven-year life expectancy.
During this time, we’ve had exceptionally heavy rains and flooding in Queensland. We urgently need to find out what impact that’s had on bilby populations and their predators.
Consistent, reliable survey data will help us spot any major changes in the small, scattered wild bilby populations in western Queensland before it’s too late.
Please, if you can, send your Christmas gift to help us find and put Queensland’s current wild bilby populations on the map. (There’s no chance Santa will visit your long-eared furry marsupial friends otherwise).
The Bilby has long been an Easter icon, but every single day—whether it’s Christmas Day or any given Sunday—their future remains uncertain. The reality is, you don’t have to look far to find precious species that took five years or less to go from endangered to extinct.
This Christmas, let’s make sure the bilbies don’t go the same way.
Kevin Bradley
CEO
Save the Bilby Fund
P.S. This Christmas, all bilbies want is to survive. But Santa can’t deliver if he doesn’t know where they are. With a gift of $50, you could help the 2026 Bilby Survey happen without delay, so we can put wild populations on the map and better protect them.