Nabarlek on Augustus Island. © Ian Bool

Conservationists have pulled off the ecological equivalent of finding a needle in a haystack, confirming the presence of Australia’s second smallest wallaby, the Nabarlek, at two new locations in Western Australia’s vast Kimberley region. The detections provide insight into the species’ ecology and hints that this endangered wallaby may still be holding on in pockets across the north.

Images and scats verified the presence of the 1.2kg rock-wallaby on Yampi Sound Training Area on Dambeemangaddee Country, which has been identified as one of 20 priority places in the Federal Government’s Threatened Species Action Plan. A second population was also confirmed around 170km away in the northeast of Dambeemangaddee Country. These were the first detections of the species on mainland Dambeemangaddee Country in over 50 years and the first record for Yampi Sound Training Area.

“This is very exciting and great news for the species,” said Larissa Potter, Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) Senior Field Ecologist. “Confirming the Nabarlek’s presence at two new sites on mainland Dambeemangaddee Country is a major step forward for our understanding of where the species occurs.”

“It’s also reassuring as it indicates that this threatened wallaby is persisting on the Kimberley mainland in places we didn’t previously know about.”

Once believed to be widespread across parts of northern Australia, the Nabarlek has suffered declines. In the Northern Territory, there have been few records in recent years, and the species is thought to have disappeared from the Victoria River district. In the Kimberley, the wallaby has only been recorded from five offshore islands and a handful of mainland sites – this includes Kunmunya (1972) and Wotjulum (1954) on Dambeemangaddee Country and in the far north on Wunambal Gaambera Country, more than 230km from the newly confirmed locations.

At just 36cm long (about as long as a loaf of bread) and occurring in very remote, rocky habitats, finding and researching the Nabarlek has never been easy. To make things more complex, the Nabarlek looks almost identical to a co-occurring rock-wallaby, the Monjon, and is also sometimes genetically indistinguishable from a third species, the Short-eared Rock-wallaby.

To overcome these challenges, AWC with Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation (DAC) need to use a combination of camera images and genetic analysis to correctly identify the Nabarlek. When a small, brown wallaby appears on a camera trap the team must first confirm that the Short-eared Rock Wallaby is not at the site, which fortunately can be done through camera images as they look different to the Narbalek. Then the field team head out to the site to collect scat samples that are sent off for DNA analysis. Once the genetic results have confirmed that they have found Nabarlek, the researchers return to the images to examine distinctive markings and physical traits.

This combined photographic and genetic approach has allowed the team to build a verified image library of the species to help distinguish the Nabarlek from its look?alike relatives.

“Working with Dambeemangaddee Traditional Owners is central to improving our understanding of biodiversity on Country,” said Larissa. “Combining their knowledge with AWC’s science-based approach is incredibly powerful for uncovering species as difficult to find as the Nabarlek.”

“Every animal has its own song and story, they might be small, they might be big, but they all play their part in keeping Country healthy. They’re part of the ecosystem,” said Inga Pedersen Dambeemangaddee Traditional Owner. “We heard that the Nabarlek didn’t exist anymore (on the mainland), so it’s good to know that they’re there, it shows their Country is healthy.”

“But now we want to know more about them. Is it a healthy population? We want to compare them to the ones on the islands, and make sure this animal isn’t disappearing. We think that the cats and fire might be getting them on the mainland, so it’d be great to have more funding to learn more about this animal.”

AWC and DAC will use these confirmed locations as a starting point to continue searching for additional Nabarlek populations. With a clearer understanding of where the Nabarlek persists, the two organisations can investigate the threats facing the species, many of which remain relatively unknown, and implement targeted conservation actions to safeguard its future.

This ongoing work is essential, as current population statistics for Nabarlek remain uncertain. According to the IUCN Red List, the number of mature Nabarlek individuals is estimated at just 5,000–10,000.

For more information on AWC’s partnership with Dambimangari Aboriginal Corporation, click here, and for more information on the Nabarlek, click here.

Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) is a pragmatic, on-ground global conservation leader, conserving landscapes and providing hope for Australian wildlife. Informed by science, we deliver measurable conservation impact at scale to secure the future of our most endangered species and their habitats, including restoring degraded landscapes where necessary.

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