How this little marsupial's poo nurtures urban gardens and bushland (and how you can help protect them)

By Anna Hopkins, Senior Lecturer in Molecular Ecology, Edith Cowan University
Natasha Tay, PhD Candidate, Murdoch University

Wildlife encounters can be few and far between in cities but, if you’re lucky, you might catch sight of a small Aussie marsupial in Perth that’s helping keep urban bushland healthy.

Quenda, a rabbit-sized digging mammal native to southwestern Australia, are found in patches of bushland, parkland and even backyard gardens. And our latest research shows just how important these unassuming marsupials are to Australian ecosystems.

We found quenda eat a huge variety of specialised fungi…

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