Wildlife

A Tiny, 'Extinct' Marsupial Re-Emerges in the Australian Desert

A species of tiny, adorable marsupial that scientists thought had been locally extinct for more than 100 years has re-emerged in New South Wales, Australia.

The crest-tailed mulgara (Dasycercus cristicauda), which weighs just 5 ounces (150 grams), was once a common small carnivore in desert inland regions of the continent. But researchers in the modern era knew the mulgara lived in New South Wales only from fossilized bone fragments.

Rabbits, cats and foxes are all invasive species in Australia; they arrived with European settlers and have had devastating effects on the continent's native wildlife. In the case of the crest-tailed mulgara, the invaders munched on the small plants the mulgara needed for cover, and then the cats and foxes hunted and ate it, driving the population out of the region.

Some scrappy mulgaras must have found a way to survive the dark times, though. In the last couple decades, the Australian government released a viral plague which caused a rabbit decline precipitating a mulgara rebound, leading to the mulgara found alive in Sturt National Park.