Wildlife

Narrandera’s koala population is contributing to a major scientific study, with researchers from the Koala Sentinel Program back in the Riverina for its final round of fieldwork ... Researchers are investigating factors such as health, disease, genetics, nutrition, habitat, and ecology across six very different landscapes...

Bruny Island, off the coast of southern Tasmania, continues to attract birdwatchers from around the world. Its diverse habitats and rich birdlife offer unique year-round experiences, but winter reveals a quieter, more immersive side.

Scenic Rim Regional Council is appealing to Tamborine Mountain residents to stop feeding and interacting with wild dogs, which are becoming a problem to the local community. As well as being illegal under the Biosecurity Act 2014, feeding wild dogs and encouraging them into community spaces poses a threat to residents, their pets and other wildlife by increasing the risk of attacks.

Landline’s segment about koalas last Sunday, "Need for Trees: Charity plants half-a-million trees to help save koalas" would have been better directed at the need for common sense. It referred to the preordained finding from the NSW Inquiry in 2020 that koalas were headed for extinction by 2050. This finding was ridiculous because koalas were invisible when Europeans arrived. Now there are many more koalas over a much wider area ... ARR.News asked a few questions of Vic too.

The future of Australia’s koalas is being reshaped in Port Stephens, with groundbreaking, world-leading research now underway at the Port Stephens Koala Hospital ... the investment is powering a three-year research program that will study a cohort of 100 koalas using advanced diagnostic technology – including CT, X-Ray, ultrasound and qPCR blood analysis.

The first of the migrating humpback whales have been spotted off the Central Coast but the best is still to come, says Marine Mammal Specialist with Marine Wildlife Rescue Central Coast Ronny Ling ... "The first whales to start travelling are the juvenile males, then the pregnant ones and the mothers with calves from the last few years. The big breeding males then leave and are the fastest travellers."

A lizard known to Wiimpatja Aboriginal Owners as Kungaka “the Hidden One” has been formally described as a new species, acknowledged in research published today in Zootaxa. With fewer than 20 individuals of the species known to exist, the Kungaka is also now one of Australia's most threatened reptiles.

Allora’s picturesque trees in Herbert Street attracted this chattering of noisy but beautiful Rainbow Lorikeets to feast on the mass of seeds that drop onto the footpath for easy picking.

Austinn Lane. A large bronze whaler shark was spotted at the recent Berry Bay Surf Jam on southern Yorke Peninsula, thanks to drone technology. South Australian Shark Watch founding director, Anton Covino took drones to the event to test their potential for monitoring shark activity.

Public consultation is now open on proposed changes to blue swimmer crab rules in the West Coast bioregion to make the rules easier to understand and to provide better fishing experiences for recreational fishers. The proposed changes would bring in one set of bag and boat limit rules in the West Coast bioregion, which runs from Black Point east of Augusta to the Zuytdorp Cliffs north of Kalbarri.

The Darling Downs Zoo has welcomed four new baby baboons into its family in what is the country's first successful breeding program for the primate. The babies, ranging between 11 and 3 weeks old are still clinging tightly to mums.

Students at Rushworth P–12 College are helping restore wildlife habitat across fire-affected parts of northern Victoria, building more than 100 nesting boxes for native animals displaced by recent bushfires. Member for Euroa, Annabelle Cleeland MP recently visited the school’s HOPE (Hands-On Practical Education) program to see the project underway and meet students working alongside volunteers from the Rushworth Field & Game Club.

Sharks and rays are among the most endangered groups of animals on the planet ... The marine parks around Lord Howe Island have now been recognised as an Important Shark and Ray Area ... The waters here support feeding and reproduction for Galapagos sharks...

Central Coast Councillor Jared Wright has ramped up calls for State Government action on shark control following the recent release of the International Shark Attack File, which confirmed that Australia recorded the world's highest total of fatal shark attacks on humans in 2025. "Of 12 fatalities, nine were from Australia."

In Australia, the use of animals to solve various human problems is neither increasing nor decreasing. This process is becoming more humane and effective. This change is driven by public opinion and advances in science and technology.

Preliminary test results have confirmed H5 avian influenza (H5 bird flu) in additional wildlife species on Australia’s sub-Antarctic external territory of Heard Island following confirmation in southern elephant seals in November 2025.

A tiny, threatened marsupial not known to have inhabited South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula may exist as a relict population and still be clinging to survival, according to new research that has re-examined historical field data from one of the region’s most important conservation areas. In a study published in Australian Zoologist, researchers report compelling evidence that the Little Pygmy-Possum (Cercartetus lepidus) may exist in Dhilba Guuranda–Innes National Park...

The Raine Island Recovery Project - completed in December 2025 - documented almost 20,000 turtles gathering in the ocean and almost 4,000 turtles coming onto the island at night to lay eggs. Raine Island is the world’s largest green turtle rookery and is the source of almost 90 per cent of the northern Great Barrier Reef green turtle population. 

The Central Coast Group of Birding NSW has announced the winners of its 2025 Photographic Competition. "There were 70 photos entered in the competition from 22 photographers," spokesperson Allan Benson said. "The standard was very high but the winners were standouts."

Founder of Summer Spirit, Summer Adams, was named Highly Commended in the Young Citizen of the Year category for her remarkable commitment to wildlife conservation, community service and youth empowerment ... Scarlett Cheetham was nominated for Young Citizen of the Year, in recognition of her longstanding commitment to kindness, volunteering, and environmental and marine conservation initiatives.

The NSW Government has called for community input on recreational opportunities in the proposed Great Koala National Park. Regular ARR.News commentator on koala issues, Vic Jurskis, responds and has some questions for the Environment Minister ... Where do koalas no longer exist in NSW? What is the evidence they existed there when Europeans arrived? What is the evidence they are no longer there? Do you intend to reintroduce them?