The Desert Rat Kangaroo (Caloprymnus campestris), or ‘oolaculnta’ was last seen by scientist Hedley Herbert Finlayson in the 1930’s. Since then there have been a number of accounts which suggest that this rare and elusive creature may still be out there, in the stony deserts of South Australia. In Australia, which has one of the worst records for mammal extinctions due to human activity, finding this marsupial alive would be a great boon for Australian conservation.
A team of scientists led by Karl Vernes at the University of New England are on a mission to try and find the Desert Rat Kangaroo and verify if it still exists. They’re looking for support through crowdfunding and you can help make it happen. In an interview with In Situ Science Karl tells us about how he has been thinking about going on a hunt for Desert Rat Kangaroo for 15 years and the time has finally come!
Listen to the interview here.
You can help support this scientific expedition here!
Follow Karl on Twitter@KarlVernes or check out his camera trapping discoveries on Instagram at @curiousbettong.
Music: ‘Strange Stuff’ by Sonic Wallpaper – www.sonicwallpaper.bandcamp.com
In Situ Science 