National Threatened Species Day: A time of reflection and hope

Every year, 7 September marks National Threatened Species Day, a day initially established to commemorate the death of the last Tasmanian Tiger and that provides a chance to recognise other Australian animal and plant species that are facing a similar fate.

So how can you help threatened species? Perhaps you enjoy volunteering with your local community environment group, or taking part in the Threatened Species Bake Off [external link]. Education is a powerful tool that can help us as a society move the needle on threatened species. These books delve into the stories of species at risk, offering readers the opportunity to learn about their local threatened species, discover the conservation efforts of scientists and communities, and reflect on the species we’ve already lost.

Night Parrot (Endangered)

The elusive Night Parrot has been a source of mystery for decades, so rarely seen in the wild that the question of its extinction has been a topic of discussion time and again. It was famously ‘rediscovered’ in 2013, confirming its continued existence, but the parrot’s enthusiastic pursuers faced further challenges in finding the bird again and answering the ongoing questions of its ecology and distribution.

In Night Parrot: Australia’s Most Elusive Bird, Penny Olsen documents the competitiveness and secrecy, the triumphs and adventures of the history of the bird and its followers. An unfinished story of an almost mythical bird which has inspired poets, novelists and artists throughout history.

Christmas Island Pipistrelle (Extinct)

Extinction doesn’t often happen so precisely, but for the Christmas Island pipistrelle, the time and date of the sighting of the last known bat was exact and witnessed.

“It is the evening of 26 August [2009], humid under the dense rainforest. The last bat emerges from its day-time shelter, and the bat detectors signal its movement to the scientists. It flies to and fro along its regular foraging beat for several hours. The detector blips frequently; then less; and then no more. The bat is not recorded again that night, and not at all the next night. The bat is never again recorded.”
From the Introduction, A Bat’s End: The Christmas Island Pipistrelle and Extinction in Australia

In A Bat’s End, ecologist John Woinarski tells the compelling tale of the circumstances surrounding the extinction of the Christmas Island pipistrelle and the scientists who tried to save it.

Thylacine (Extinct)

Many of us have seen the haunting video footage of the last known thylacine, pacing its concrete enclosure at Beaumaris Zoo, Hobart, in 1933. The thylacine has somewhat of a mythical status, existing at a time when technology allowed for the creation of an extensive record of it, and yet no colour images or recordings of its vocalisations exist.

In Thylacine: The History, Ecology and Loss of the Tasmanian Tiger, editors Branden Holmes and Gareth Linnard share that much of “our understanding of its ecology and behaviour is largely based on anecdote”, and the assumption that there was a lack of opportunity or will to study the thylacine in the wild “is no truer of the thylacine than any other comparably rare species encountered during the 19th and early 20th centuries”.

So what can we take from looking into the past, and what lies ahead for the future of the thylacine’s story? In their book, Holmes and Linnard bring together 78 contributors to present an evidence-based profile of the thylacine and explore its role as a symbol of extinction as well as a symbol of hope.

Murray Cod (Vulnerable)

Australia’s largest and most iconic freshwater fish has a history possibly going back 10 million years. Its enormous size – it can reach more than 100kg in weight and 1.8m in length – isn’t the only remarkable thing about it. It has an important place in the Aboriginal creation story of the Murray River, has been an important food source for many thousands of years, and has played a big role in commercial fishing over the last 200 years.

Despite its resilience, the Murray cod has faced challenges from climate change, intensive commercial fishing and river management. According to Paul Humphries, author of The Life and Times of the Murray Cod, the future of the Murray cod is intrinsically tied to the conservation of our rivers. From the book:

“To conserve the Murray cod, we need to conserve our rivers. And to conserve our rivers, we need to conserve the Murray cod. The two go hand-in-hand and are so intimately linked that they cannot be separated. We are fooling ourselves if we believe that we can do one without the other. History tells us different.”

Read more about how Murray cod populations are still feeling the consequences of commercial fishing during the Gold Rush in this edited extract from the book.

Native Orchids (varying statuses)

Australia is home to almost 2000 species of wild orchids and almost a quarter of those can be found in Victoria alone. Despite this, many species are facing an uncertain future as their distribution in the wild is restricted to increasingly small sites.

In his Guide to Native Orchids of Victoria, Gary Backhouse described and photographed critically endangered species such as the Pygmy Spider Orchid (Caladenia pumila), which was discovered in 1916 and thought extinct by 1930s, before two flowering plants were found in a reserve at Inverleigh in 2009. Another critically endangered orchid species is the Bald-Tip Beard Orchid (Calochilus richiae) which is known only from a single population in central Victoria with fewer than 20 plants.

Discover more species in Guide to Native Orchids of Victoria and its companion volume Guide to Native Orchids of NSW and ACT, co-authored by Lachlan Copeland. For Gary and Lachlan, finding orchids in the wild is always an enchanting experience, and one they hope will inspire further interest and research. You can also read our interviews with both Gary and Lachlan on what they find most inspiring and remarkable about Australian native orchids.

Calochilus richiae. The Bald-Tip Beard Orchid is a critically endangered species known only from a single population with fewer than 20 plants. (Photo: Gary N. Backhouse)

Caladenia pumila. The Pygmy Spider Orchid was thought extinct for over 75 years before being rediscovered. (Photo: Gary N. Backhouse)

To discover more about Australia’s diverse flora and fauna, explore the books mentioned in this blog story, or check out our full range of books on our website.