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22 July 08
2008.07.22
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" Quokkas eventually led to the rediscovery of Gilbert's Potoroo, although in a rather indirect way. In November 1994 Elizabeth Sinclair, a Ph.D. student studying population genetics of quokkas, and Bridget Hyder (a volunteer field assistant) were trying to catch quokkas to help with Elizabeth's research. They set 17 cage-traps at several locations in Two Peoples Bay Nature Reserve and these traps continued to be monitored by Elizabeth and Adrian Wayne.
By Tuesday 29th, the traps had been set for six nights without success. Then, the following morning, they found one of the traps occupied by an animal about the size of a bandicoot which, at first glance, resembled a baby quokka. The animal was female with a single pouch young. An ear-clip was taken and then the animal was released. The next morning, however, two more animals were captured; a juvenile male and a larger adult female, again with a single pouch young. Now there were small and large animals, looking the same as the animal captured on the previous morning, and it was decided that they were not, in fact, quokkas. Their fur was much too soft for them to be bandicoots and so they were taken back to the reserve research station for closer examination. "
