In 1997 bilbies released on Australian island; occupied entire island by 2007

A bilby (Macrotis lagotis - large animal) and a Spinifex hopping mouse (Notomys alexis - small animal) at Sydney Wildlife World, a zoo in Sydney (Image: Dcoetzee/Wikipedia) In 1997, conservationists introduced captive-bred greater bilbies to Thistle Island in South Australia, a place the species had never historically inhabited. The release was part of a wider national effort to protect the vulnerable marsupial from introduced predators such as foxes and feral cats. According to the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water, Government of Australia’s Recovery Plan for the Greater Bilby, surveys carried out roughly a decade later found the population had grown and spread across the entire island. Here's what the plan reveals about this and related reintroduction efforts, along with where things stand today.How captive-bred bilbies colonised the entire Thistle IslandThistle Island, off South Australia's coast, had no historical bilby population before captive-bred animals were released there in 1997. Because the island lacked mainland predators such as foxes and feral cats, the bilbies could establish themselves without the predation pressure that limits mainlan...