10-Sep-2020 Theme: 'Extinct'

(1) What small, central Australian mammal – last collected in 1933 and now presumed extinct –built large nests up to three metres long?

Answer: Lesser Stick-nest Rat (Leporillus apicalis).

(2) In 2019 a native Queensland mouse, the Bramble Cay melomys (Melomys rubicola) was formally declared to be extinct. Why did this extinction make world headlines?

Answer: It was believed to be the first mammal extinction caused by anthropogenic climate change.

(3) By 1855, three island sub-species of emus had been extinguished in southern Australia. What islands did they inhabit? (one point each).

Answer: King Island, Kangaroo Island & Tasmania.

(4) What dainty, kitten-sized, spindly-legged marsupial which formerly inhabited inland deserts in central and west Australia, was last reported in the 1950s, and is now known only from 29 museum specimens?

Answer: Pig-footed bandicoot (Chaeropus sp.)

(5) According to the EPBC Act List of Threatened Flora, how many plants have become extinct in Australia since 1788? (a) 7 (b) 17 (c) 27 (d) 37 (e) 47

Answer: (d) 37

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