This species once lived in Tasmania and important areas of southern Victoria, but is now severely depressed. This was partly due to predators introduced (mostly the fox) and partly to the lands occupied by man, so the animal was on the verge of extinction on the continent.
However, by implementing a continuous 3-decade protection planIt appears to have been reversed In the process, the number of wild animals increased from 150 to 1,500. It is estimated that tens of thousands, but perhaps hundreds of thousands, once lived in the grasslands of southeastern Australia. Today, barely one percent of this grassy wilderness has survived.
The tied pandey is only 12 days pregnant, and after growing in a handbag for two months, the mother weaned her baby and could give birth to another baby in just a week. This allows the animal to reproduce up to 5 times a year.
The animal spends its days in an underground nest surrounded by grass and then goes out at night to hunt insects and worms. It has long been considered extinct in Victoria, but in the 1980s a handful of the animals were found on the outskirts of the city. 40 individuals from the small community were excavated and included in the breeding programme. However, their genetic diversity was very low, and during the first breeding experiments, some individuals showed underdeveloped jaws due to inbreeding, which made it impossible to prey on the animal. That is why the strategy had to be changed: with the help of their Tasmanian peers, they were able to make the breed stable within a few years. (Two subspecies of the same animal species, 15,000 years ago, separated at the end of the Ice Age, the bandits living on the mainland and Tasmania, so they are very close relatives.)
The animals bred at the Mount Rothwell Biodiversity Center were released into predator-free, protected and fenced areas, with stocks of tethered bands in these three areas already exceeding a thousand individuals. Individuals of this species were also returned to some fox-free islands, and it seems that they acquired these species and reproduced in these areas.
The Victorian government has contributed A$200,000 (about Ft46 million) to save the species, but this amount has been increased by a number of institutional and private donations.
a Smithsonian magazine reported From another experience as well. In this, it is attempted to get rid of the bandits without a fence, but the small wallets are still without protection. Shepherd dogs have been taught to guard them: the dogs’ job is to keep foxes away so that they don’t even think about chasing a pandic. Shepherd dogs from Abruzzo were used in experiments, as these animals have already been proven in other conservation projects. In addition to looking after the Panedict, they can also keep the sheep that share the Panedict in the grasslands.
A total of 40 bandits were released into three such pastures in 2020, and although foxes appeared in footage from widespread camera traps, they never remained in the area. Foxes know that the territory belongs to dogs, so they do not try to stay long, but pass quickly. The spread of bandits has also been followed, but it is not yet known how successful this experiment will be, which may be determined in the long term.
The banded pandaic’s status was classified as “wild extinct” in 2013, but due to the success of the breeding and restoration program, it was only classified as “critically endangered” in October 2021. This was the first time that the conservation status of an Australian animal had been restored to a lower risk level.
