Australian Conservation Programs

Much of Australia's native wildlife is unique to this continent, having evolved over the past 50 million years largely in isolation to the rest of the world.

Australia today is vastly different to the environment that its native wildlife evolved in. Habitats have been lost or fragmented, non-native species have been introduced, the impacts of industrialisation have become evident in climate change and increased pollution levels and new diseases are emerging.

All of these changes pose new challenges for wildlife, and whilst some has thrived, much is now on the verge of extinction. Sophisticated Recovery Programs are the last option for many species and Zoos Victoria is involved in a range of these programs.

Zoos Victoria is committed to the following Australian conservation programs:

  • Tasmanian Devil

    The Tasmanian Devil is the largest carnivorous marsupial in the world and is restricted to Tasmania. The outbreak of the Devil Facial Tumour Disease has caused a catastrophic decline in Devil populations.

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  • Southern Corroboree Frog

    The Southern Corroboree Frog is listed as Critically Endangered and is seriously threatened with extinction in the wild as a result of disease caused by infection with a pathogen known as the Amphibian Chytrid Fungus.

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  • Eastern Barred Bandicoot

    Like many of Australia's grassland species, the Eastern Barred Bandicoot, a small marsupial, is under threat of extinction. The loss of its grassland habitat to agriculture and farming, coupled with predation by introduced foxes and cats, has caused populations to plummet in the wild.

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  • Helmeted Honeyeater

    Critically Endangered, the Helmeted Honeyeater survives in only two small wild populations east of Melbourne. Zoos Victoria staff, along with other dedicated Recovery Team members, have been working to maintain a captive breeding and release program for these birds since 1989.

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  • Mountain Pygmy-possum

    The Mountain Pygmy-possum is restricted to alpine and sub-alpine regions of Victoria and New South Wales and is Australia's only hibernating mammal. In 2001, it was estimated that 1570 Mountain Pygmy-possums lived in the wild, though the population continues to decline and on Mt Buller there may now be less than 30 animals.

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  • Orange-bellied Parrot

    The coastal salt marshes and dunes on the southern coast of Australia where the Orange-bellied Parrot spend the winter have been cleared by Europeans over the past 200 years, causing the wild population of this bird to plummet.

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  • Spotted Tree Frog

    Many amphibian populations in Australia and around the world have declined in recent years. The Spotted Tree Frog, a mountain stream species from north-eastern Victoria and southern New South Wales, is one such species.

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  • Sunshine Diuris Orchid

    This recovery program of the Critically Endangered Sunshine Diuris Orchid is tackling the ever-increasing loss of Victoria's grassland habitat by restoring some of the remaining grassland remnants in an effort to retain the biodiversity these ecosystems support

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