Gliders & Bandicoots Excursion

Year 12 Environmental Science Excursion - Gliders & Bandicoots

On Tuesday the 2nd May, just as the Athletics carnival was winding up, the Year 12 Environmental Science class set out on an excursion to Ecolinc and Mount Rothwell Sanctuary. 

At Ecolinc the students explored the services provided by the ecosystem of the western volcanic grasslands, carried out an analysis of mammalian hair samples, used software modeling to look at the causes of decline of the Eastern Barred Bandicoot and even met the resident Sugar Gliders and Potoroos. In the evening we headed over to Mt Rothwell Wildlife Sanctuary - a fox and rabbit proof sanctuary near the YouYangs. 

This sanctuary is home to many endangered species such as the Eastern Barred Bandicoot, the Brush-tail Rock Wallaby and the Spotted Quoll. At the sanctuary we carried out a habitat survey of the grassy woodland area and took part in a night time spotlighting walk. The spotlighting walk was the highlight as we saw this grassland truly come to life!We were blown away by the volume of marsupials that scurried or hopped through the grass. We observed Bettongs, Eastern Barred Bandicoots and lots of the critically endangered Brush-tailed Rock Wallaby. There are less than 50 of these Wallabies left in the wild and it was truly an amazing experience to see them thriving in the sanctuary. 

This excursion helped solidify the students' knowledge of how we monitor and manage biodiversity.