Idnya Landbridge

Idnya/Western Quoll is South Australia's largest native carnivore and was once common across most of the southern half of the continent. The arrival of European settlers brought land clearance, feral predators and human persecution and their numbers were decimated in the late 19th century.

Following a reintroduction in Ikara/Wilpena Pound, Idnya are again present on Arkaba Conservancy after an absence of over 100 years.

Western Quoll Project

Western Quolls (Dasyurus Geoffroii) became extinct in the Flinders Ranges over 100 years ago and by the 1980s the entire population in Australia numbered less than 6000. The reintroduction of 53 individuals in Ikara/Wilpena Pound in 2014 was accompanied by an intensive program to control feral predators, notably feral cats and foxes, and the result has been one of the great conservation success stories in South Australia. Quoll numbers have markedly increased, expanding their range beyond the boundaries of the park and there is now an established population in the north-east corner of Arkaba. The vision is to create a land bridge across Arkaba to allow quolls to repopulate the western side of the conservancy where perfect habitat exists - the challenge is to ease a route across Arkaba's central area where previous grazing by sheep has opened up the country and a higher concentration of rabbits has provided a feeding ground for cats - an effective barrier to quoll dispersal.

Strategies to support the repopulation of quolls at Arkaba include:

the removal of feral predators, in particular foxes and feral cats
the removal of rabbits, and the effective removal of a primary source of prey for cats
surveying the landscape for quoll presence: at one level this is done through camera monitors. At a more substantial level this is carried out with an annual trapping survey to assess the health of the quoll population and their gender distribution across the property
research to understand the relationship between competitor species, habitat and quolls

With the support of National Parks and the South Australian Arid Lands Landscapes Board, Arkaba Environmental Projects supports baiting and trapping of feral predators and the removal of rabbit warrens from Arkaba Conservancy.