Rare mammal born in wild at park

In a protected forest of eastern Australia, one of the country’s “rarest mammals” wandered past a trail camera, its pouch bulging slightly from the baby tucked inside. Conservationists later looked at the photos and immediately recognized them as a “major” conservation milestone.

Conservationists began preparations at Powrunna State Forest in 2024 in hopes that the protected site would eventually host a thriving population of Northern hairy-nosed wombats, according to the Queensland Government.

Northern hairy-nosed wombats are “the largest burrowing marsupial in the world, and one of Australia’s rarest mammals,” according to the Australian Wildlife Conservancy. They are critically endangered and, in the 1980s, were reduced to one population of “just 35 individuals.”

Ever since, wildlife