The Northern Territory’s Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary has recorded the first birth of a baby greater bilby since the species was reintroduced in May last year, part of a bilby boom in Australia in the last year.

Australian Wildlife Conservancy chief science officer Dr John Kanowski said the recent “bilby census” showed the overall population of greater bilbies in Australian safe havens in 2023 was estimated to hit at least 3,315, more than double the 1,480 recorded last year, and 1,230 in 2021.

And a juvenile was caught on a camera trap hopping behind its mother during a recent survey at Newhaven, in central Australia.

He said the increase in population could be credited to the population established at Newhaven, the first estimate of a population established for several years at Mt Gibson Wildlife Sanctuary in Western Australia, and generous rainfall across most of Australia, replenishing the landscape and provided good conditions for breeding.

Bilbies are long-eared rabbit-like mammals native to Australia and are nocturnal creatures that live in burrows, feeding on insects and fruits.

The annual census was made in the last 12 months at six AWC protected areas which also include, Yookamurra in South Australia, Scotia in NSW, and two two partnership project areas in the Pilliga and Mallee Cliffs National Park in NSW.

“The greater bilby once occurred across 70 per cent of mainland Australia, and sadly, is now only found within some 20 per cent of its former range,” Dr Kanowski said.

“This decline represents the loss of our natural heritage, the loss of cultural heritage for Indigenous people, and the disruption of important ecological processes, as bilbies turn over several tonnes of soil yearly, to create fertile pockets and perfect germination conditions for plants.

“Through fenced refuges, such as those established by AWC, we have been able to return the bilby to six ecosystems from which they’ve become extinct and provide them with safe environments in which they can safely breed and fertilise their numbers.

“Re-establishing the species across its former range is also important for maintaining long-term adaptive potential.”

Dr Kanowski said that in 2022, sixty-six bilbies were specially selected from Taronga Western Plains Zoo and Currawinya National Park in Queensland for the reintroduction into Newhaven’s 9,450 ha feral predator-free area – one of Australia’s largest fenced safe havens – located on the traditional lands of the Ngalia-Warlpiri/Luritja people.

AWC field ecologist Samantha Mulvena said a few bilbies were released with transmitters, allowing them to closely monitor how they moved and survived for the first two weeks.

“During this time, we had a 100 per cent survival rate and we found individuals taking up shelter in spinifex dune fields, mulga woodland and spinifex sandplains,” she said.

“We also tracked one individual for four kilometres from the release site to a new burrow. This was the furthest distance travelled and a good indication that the individuals had quickly acclimatised and are confidently moving around the new environment.”

She said that in November and December the team carried out a trackplot survey of 30 two-hectare plots and found bilbies occupying 47 per cent of sites and juveniles were detected at 10 per cent of surveyed trackplot sites.