News
6 August, 2024
Esk’s gliding surprise
An unprecedented discovery was made in Esk National Park on July 26, as local conservation group Care4esK sighted an endangered Greater Glider during a four-hour survey.
According to public records, Greater Gliders have never previously been sighted in the location.
Care4esK member, Jacqui Bate, said she felt elated and privileged to see this adorable, vulnerable being in the wild.
“It is something that will always stay with me,” she said.
Care4esK President Darren Bate said it was “quite a feeling” to look up at such an animal in the wild, knowing how rare and difficult it is to get a glimpse of these creatures.
“We consider ourselves extremely fortunate to have found one and this wonderful encounter was not taken lightly,” he said.
“Moments like this inspire us to continue doing what we do.
“Our goal is to create awareness and to provide ongoing education and information for the community.
“Our precious wildlife needs our help, and we will continue to be their voice.”
Wildlife Preservation Society Queensland project off icer, Paul Revie, said this fi nd is “really good” for the area, as fi nding one Greater Glider likely means there are more.
“They are very scarce in the Somerset area, because it has been logged so heavily,” he said.
“You don’t find many old trees outside of protected areas, like 120 to 150 years old, so seeing a Glider outside of those areas is a great sign.”
Greater Gliders need tree hollows with at least a 10cm entrance, going over a metre deep into the tree, to have insulated homes, which take over 100 years to form in trees.
“You can’t revegetate tree hollows,” Mr. Revie said.
“You plant a tree today and it will take over a century to be ready for use.”
According to Mr Revie, Greater Gliders are severely threatened by extinction, seeing a population decline of 50 per cent in the past 20 years.
“People need to campaign to protect old forests from logging, by changing legislation around state forests and, hopefully, seeing more of those transition into national parks,” Mr Revie said.
Another recommendation Mr Revie made to help preserve the population, is to attach nest boxes to revegetated trees, in the hope Gliders find and use them.
Greater Gliders are Australia’s largest gliding marsupial, known as gliding possums, as they emerge from tree hollows after dark and leap through the forest canopy, sometimes up to 100 metres, to a chosen food tree.
Greater Gliders are considered endangered, with Care4esK having made a call for residents to sign a petition calling on the State Government to review the Code of Practice for native forest timber production on Queensland State forest estate 2020 and the “ineffective” Glider Protection Measures, after their sighting.
“As a nation, we desperately need to stop removing our old growth forests,” Mr. Bate said.
“A Greater Glider needs a hollow that may take up to 200 years to form. Without their homes, they simply cannot survive.”
The petition closed on August 3, with over 1,200 signatures.
