Rare joy as endangered mahogany glider survives Cyclone Yasi to become mother
By Brian Williams, The Courier-Mail
13 September 2011 HERE’S evidence you do not have to be big and tough to survive everything Mother Nature can throw at you. This endangered mahogany glider survived February’s devastating Cyclone Yasi at Cardwell in north Queensland. With little cover in her tree-top home, she made it through weeks of rain that followed. Since then, it’s hardly rained at all and the usually wet coastal vegetation is struggling to recover. Now researchers have made a stirring discovery – the glider has pouch young. The baby find has excited scientists, Girringun rangers, Wildlife Preservation Society members and carers, including Daryl Dickson of the Mungarra Lodge Sanctuary, who have been fighting to save the species, of which only about 1500 survive. Ms Dickson yesterday said the glider appeared in good health although underweight. “This is the first sign of any breeding,” Ms Dickson said. “It’s been such a terrible time, we weren’t sure if they had enough food and cover to breed.” Extended dry conditions had seen glider food such as insects disappear and a range of trees, including eucalypts, were not blossoming although some grass trees had flowered. “We’ve never seen this before,” Ms Dickson said.
These days I take good news wherever I can find it. Thanks, Jim.