Kowari caught on camera

Numerous Kowari were recorded on three monitoring cameras placed in a location where few previous records exist – and their detection in the area was the first in eight years.

Found only in northeast SA and southwest Queensland, as well as at Arid Recovery at Olympic Dam, Kowari live on sand mounds on the gibber plains.

Their location in very remote areas makes monitoring difficult, so motion-sensor cameras are used to collect data on this species as part of the board’s Wetland Wonders project.

As technology develops, it is hoped that tracking this species will become easier.

While in the area to undertake a large-scale aerial pest animal control operation, the helicopter pilot and marksmen were able to access some monitoring sites that had been inaccessible due to flooding. They replaced SD cards and batteries so the cameras will continue to monitor Kowari in the area – making the most of resources already on the ground.

Pest control is important to the survival of the Kowari and other endemic species, because feral pigs and large feral herbivores can trample and flatten the sand mounds, which damage kowari burrows.

The trampling and grazing of mound vegetation can also lead to increased mound erosion, and reduced habitat for invertebrates and reptiles, which is the Kowari food source.

It’s a good reminder of the precious biodiversity values the board is working to protect through feral animal control.,

Wetland Wonders is funded by the Australian Government Natural Heritage Trust and delivered by the SA Arid Lands Landscape Board, a member of the Commonwealth Regional Delivery Partners panel.