Experts thrilled as trail camera captures images of incredibly rare creature: 'Encouraging'

A trail camera set up in Australia's Kosciuszko National Park to help track feral cats also picked up images of a long-footed potoroo, according to the Miami Herald. 

The marsupial species seems never to have been spotted in the park before. In fact, until 2023, the newspaper noted, researchers weren't even sure this particular animal lived in the area of New South Wales. That year, though, they saw images of one on a camera in Bondi State Park. 

The state Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water wrote in a social media post that potoroos are "one of the rarest marsupials" in the area, so finding another population of them is important. 

"Another potential population is encouraging for the species' long-term survival," explained parks officials, per the Herald, "as it reduces the risk of extinction by feral predators, and by natural hazards like bushfires." 

In addition to safeguarding the animals for their own protection, conserving rare species is also key to planetary health. Biodiversity, as the United Nations has underscored, helps bolster human well-being by supporting the vitality of essential ecosystems. It can also help to capture the heat-trapping gases driving rising global temperatures and extreme weather events. 

When it comes to conservation efforts to support biodiversity, trail cameras are up there in terms of efficiency and minimal invasiveness. The footage they record can help us know where animals are living, traveling, thriving, and struggling, ultimately informing local policies and plans to promote wildlife wellness.

These tools have previously been helpful in Australia, where a researcher caught a northern hairy-nosed wombat on camera. They've also helped in the United States, where they spotted an elusive fisher in Pennsylvania.

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