Wilson’s Promontory on the southern-most tip of mainland Australia is known for its pristine beaches and scenic trails. As the effect of climate change take hold, scientists say the national park has never been more important in providing a safe sanctuary to vulnerable wildlife. They’re monitoring 153 threatened species across the national park, including one very lucky marsupial.
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00:00It may be as small as a mouse, but the Antichinus is anything but a rodent.
00:09Its closest relative is Tasmanian tiger, Tasmanian devils, the native crawl cats.
00:15Under attack from foxes and feral cats, there were fears the species would be lost for good.
00:21What are you doing today?
00:22So today we're doing a monitoring.
00:24That was until scientists discovered two colonies living peacefully on islands off the coast
00:29of Wilson's Promontory.
00:31Those offshore islands have been a place where the cats and foxes haven't reached and they're
00:35doing really well.
00:36Timothy Schwinghammer was one of 11 scientists who recently ventured across Bass Strait to
00:42check in on the isolated colonies.
00:45We're checking the traps three times a day, up at dawn, down at dusk.
00:51Teams battled huge waves and ferocious winds to collect vital data.
00:57It's rough and dirty and windy, sleep's not always the best thing.
01:02Thankfully, the mission was a success.
01:05We got 38 samples from across the islands, it's nice, peaceful, no introduced predators
01:12on the islands, no people, it's their own little hideaway.
01:16Wilson's Promontory has long been considered the perfect environment for endangered wildlife.
01:22Surrounded by Bass Strait, the temperature here is always about 5 to 10 degrees cooler
01:27than mainland Australia.
01:29And soon there will even be a fence to keep unwanted predators out.
01:35Across the narrow entrance to Wilson's Promontory, we're building a 10 kilometre wide fence and
01:41that's to stop foxes, feral cats and deer moving down from Gippsland into the prom all
01:47the time.
01:48Giving tiny marsupials like this a fighting chance.