A sweeping review of Australia’s threatened species list has found that 26 animals have recovered enough to no longer meet the legal criteria for threatened status — a rare bright spot for one of the world’s most extinction-prone nations. The findings, published in the journal Biological Conservation, drew on more than two decades of data and offer hard evidence that targeted conservation can work, even in a country facing severe and accelerating biodiversity pressure.
At a glance
- Australian species recovery: Fourteen mammal, eight bird, two frog, one reptile, and one fish species have improved enough to no longer meet threatened-listing criteria under Australia’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.
- Threatened species delisting: Three species have been formally removed from the list with confirmed legitimate recoveries — the humpback whale in 2022 C.E., and the waterfall frog and common mistfrog in 2020 C.E., after populations rebounded from near-collapse.
- Predator control programs: Intensive management of introduced predators — particularly cats and foxes — and translocation to fenced or island sanctuaries drove many of the mammal recoveries.
Which animals turned the corner
The list of recovering species reads like a roll call of Australia’s most iconic and imperiled wildlife. The greater bilby, burrowing bettong, western quoll, and eastern barred bandicoot all made the cut. So did the sooty albatross, the Murray cod, and the Bulloo grey grasswren.
The study, led by Prof. John Woinarski of Charles Darwin University and co-authored by Prof. Sarah Legge of Australian National University, reviewed every animal currently or previously listed as threatened under the EPBC Act between 2000 C.E. and December 2022 C.E. It is one of the most comprehensive assessments of Australia’s conservation record to date.
Some species benefited from habitat management. The Flinders Ranges worm-lizard, southern cassowary, and gouldian finch all saw population gains linked to better management of the land they depend on.
What actually worked
The pattern across most mammal recoveries is consistent: remove the cats and foxes, and the animals come back. Australia’s native mammals evolved without these predators and have almost no behavioral defenses against them.
“Australian mammals are so sensitive to cat and fox predation, and one of the most effective things you can do is exclude cats and foxes with fencing or by marooning the species on an island,” said Legge. The strategy — isolating populations in predator-free sanctuaries or on offshore islands — has become a cornerstone of Australia’s recovery toolkit.
The humpback whale’s story is different but equally instructive. Its numbers rebounded after the global ban on commercial whaling, a reminder that removing the pressure is sometimes enough. The two frog species, the waterfall frog and common mistfrog, stabilized after being nearly wiped out by the chytrid fungus about 30 years ago — though scientists are still studying exactly what drove their partial comeback.
The honest limits of the good news
Woinarski called the improvements “partial successes” — a phrase worth sitting with. These species have not recovered to their historic ranges. Many mammals that once spread across the Australian continent are now found only in tiny pockets of managed land covering less than 1% of where they once lived.
“We’ve prevented extinction but we haven’t really solved the problem,” Legge said.
The researchers are also clear about what conservation has not fixed. Almost no species affected by large-scale vegetation clearing, forestry, climate change, or altered fire regimes have recovered. No threatened invertebrates showed significant improvement — likely due to the chronic underfunding of insect conservation. Fish species remain constrained by invasive predators and degraded waterways.
Unlike in the U.S., Australia’s EPBC Act does not require regular, mandatory reviews of threatened species listings. That gap makes it harder to track whether conservation investments are paying off — and harder to know which species are quietly slipping further toward extinction without anyone noticing.
There is also a structural risk in success itself. Dr. Michelle Ward of WWF Australia, who was not involved in the research, flagged a real concern: once a species is delisted, it loses access to certain funding streams and monitoring programs. An animal that recovers just enough to lose its threatened status may be left more vulnerable, not less.
Why it still matters
Australia has lost more mammal species to extinction than any other country on Earth. Against that backdrop, 26 species pulling back from the edge is not a small thing. It is a proof of concept — evidence that conservation science, sustained funding, and targeted management can reverse decline even in one of the world’s most challenging biodiversity environments.
The EPBC Act, which governs how Australia identifies and protects threatened species, has faced significant criticism for lacking teeth. This research makes the case that the framework, imperfect as it is, has helped deliver real outcomes — and that strengthening it, rather than weakening it, is the logical next step.
Conservationists agree that the wins are worth celebrating. But they also agree that celebration cannot come at the cost of ongoing commitment. These recoveries exist because people kept showing up — monitoring populations, controlling predators, moving animals to safety, and funding the work year after year. The moment that stops, the gains can unravel.
Read more
For more on this story, see: The Guardian
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