Foundation for Australia's Most Endangered Species Ltd

01/11/2026

A little excitement from the Gawler Ranges. 🐣

The Bounceback team, alongside local and volunteer rangers, made a wonderful discovery while conducting their annual Malleefowl surveys across the Gawler Ranges Safer Haven… two newly hatched Malleefowl chicks!

But the good news doesn't stop there!

Of the 55 nesting mounds surveyed, 13 were found to be active and incubating eggs, compared with nine active mounds recorded from 91 surveyed last year. The team even spotted an adult Malleefowl busily tending to its mound!

These encouraging results are a wonderful reminder of the difference sustained conservation efforts can make.

This important work forms part of FAME's Three Safer Havens program, delivered in partnership with Environment SA News.

Read the update: https://ow.ly/Vzna5102K0R

26/10/2026

Let's talk wildlife conservation!
Join FAME's CEO, Tracy McNamara, this Friday for Science in the Pub Adelaide, as she joins fellow panellists Dr Matt Heard and James Smith to explore the challenges, successes and future of wildlife conservation.

Discover how conservation organisations, government and industry are working together to protect Australia's threatened species, and what we can all do to help our local wildlife.

📅 Friday 30 October.
🕕 6:00–7:30 pm.
📍 Adelaide Irish Club, 13–15 Carrington St, ADELAIDE.
🎟️ FREE event – registration essential!

If you're in SA, we'd love to see you there!

👉 Reserve your free ticket here: https://events.humanitix.com/scipubadl-wildlife-conservation-and-ecology-havens-for-arid-and-urban-fauna

24/10/2026

🦇It’s Bat Week! 🦇

From 24–31 October, we’re celebrating Australia’s remarkable bats and taking a closer look at these often-misunderstood animals.

Bats play an important role in a healthy, functioning ecosystem. By pollinating plants, dispersing seeds and controlling insect populations, they help support the landscapes and species around them. Their sensitivity to habitat loss, fragmentation and climate change can also make changes in bat populations an important indicator of environmental health.

Many of Australia’s bat species are under threat. Protecting bats and the habitats they rely on helps safeguard their future, as well as the plants and animals that benefit from the important role bats play.

🦇 Follow our Stories each day during Bat Week for more Bat Chat, fascinating facts and myth busting, including insights from Bat Specialist Oli Aylen, whose PhD research was supported by FAME.

23/10/2026

Hop to it…it’s World Kangaroo Day. 🦘

Few animals are as recognisably Australian as the kangaroo. But there's much more to these remarkable marsupials than their iconic hop.

Kangaroos and wallabies play an important role in Australia's ecosystems. As native grazers, they help manage vegetation, influence plant growth and maintain a balance between grasses and other plants. Their movement across the landscape can also help disperse seeds, while their grazing creates opportunities for smaller animals and contributes to healthy, diverse habitats.

Australia is home to a wonderful diversity of kangaroos and wallabies, from the familiar Red Kangaroo to the elusive rock-wallabies that navigate some of our most rugged country.

While some species remain widespread, others face a very different future.

Through FAME's Three Safer Havens program, in partnership with Environment SA News we're helping threatened species such as the Yellow-footed Rock-wallaby recover in the Flinders Ranges. Habitat protection, predator management and ongoing monitoring are helping secure their future.

For more on the project page visit https://ow.ly/knnP50ZZVI5

Now that’s something worth jumping for! 🦘

21/10/2026

It’s World Wombat Day! 🐾

Australia's wombats are remarkable ecosystem engineers, quietly shaping the landscapes they call home. With their powerful claws and impressive digging abilities, wombats help turn over and aerate soil, improve water absorption and create burrows that can provide valuable shelter for other native wildlife, particularly during bushfires and extreme weather.

Australia is home to three species: the Common Wombat, Southern Hairy-nosed Wombat and the Critically Endangered Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat, one of the world's rarest large mammals.

Despite their tough appearance and remarkable resilience, wombats face significant challenges, including habitat loss, disease, drought and competition for food and resources.

These extraordinary Australian marsupials play an important role in maintaining healthy ecosystems, yet their contribution to our landscapes often goes unnoticed. Three remarkable species, each deserving of a secure future in the Australian landscape.

Happy Wombat Day. 🐾

20/10/2026

Today is Reptile Awareness Day. 🦎

From tiny geckos and skinks to snakes, turtles, crocodiles and goannas, Australia is home to an extraordinary diversity of reptiles, many found nowhere else on Earth. With more than 1,100 recognised reptile species and subspecies, more than 60 are currently listed nationally as threatened species.

Reptiles play an important role in keeping our ecosystems healthy. They help control insect and pest populations, disperse seeds and provide food for other native wildlife. Some even help shape their habitats through burrowing.

One of Australia's rarest reptiles is the Critically Endangered Nangur Spiny Skink, found in just two isolated populations in south-east Queensland.

In partnership with Queensland Environment, conservation teams are working to give this remarkable little reptile a future. Captive breeding, habitat protection and the establishment of an additional population are delivering encouraging results, including 15 baby skinks born earlier this year.

Recent genetic research, supported by FAME, is also providing valuable insights to guide the species' long-term recovery. 🦎

Learn more about FAME's Nangur Spiny Skink project: https://www.fame.org.au/projects/building-populations-for-the-nangur-spiny-skink

Photo credit: DETSI

16/10/2026

Today is International Sawfish Day, recognising one of the most distinctive, and threatened, animals found in Australian waters. 🌊

With their unmistakable saw-like rostrum, sawfish might look like sharks, but they are actually rays. Australia is home to four species of sawfish and remains an important global stronghold for these remarkable animals.

Sawfish face significant threats from habitat loss and degradation, accidental capture in fishing gear and changes to the rivers, estuaries and coastal environments they depend on. And because they are slow to mature and produce relatively few young, populations can take a long time to recover.

Protecting sawfish means protecting more than one remarkable species. It means looking after the healthy rivers, estuaries and coastal habitats that countless other native species rely on too.

It is an idea that sits at the centre of FAME’s approach to conservation: save one species, help many. 🌊

01/10/2026

Wonderful to see great conservation work undertaken in Australia, published in the The Times of India. The partnership with Rainforest Rescue is a strong example of the outcomes achieved through philanthropy and partnerships. Thank you for the article!

Read the article here:

A former airstrip in the Daintree Rainforest is being restored to create safer, connected habitat for the Southern Cassowary. At Cow Bay, up to 10 hectares of barren land once stood between two sections of rainforest, disrupting an important wildlife corridor.

25/09/2026

Today is World Cassowary Day. 🐦

The Southern Cassowary is one of Australia’s most distinctive birds, but it also has an important job to do. Often called a rainforest gardener, cassowaries eat fallen fruit and disperse seeds across the forest, helping regenerate and maintain the remarkable rainforests of northern Queensland.

Sadly, the Southern Cassowary remains Endangered, with habitat loss and fragmentation and vehicle strikes among its ongoing threats.

FAME has supported Cassowary conservation through several projects over the years, from protecting and restoring habitat to helping reconnect fragmented rainforest. Most recently, in partnership with Rainforest Rescue, FAME supported the transformation of the former Cow Bay Airstrip in the Daintree Rainforest. Once-cleared land has now been fully replanted, reconnecting an important wildlife corridor in Cassowary habitat. Encouragingly, Cassowary tracks and scats were recorded at the site soon after planting. 🌱

It is a powerful reminder of why protecting one species can have benefits that extend throughout an entire ecosystem.

Read more about the reforestation project in the Daintree: https://ow.ly/cB6Q50ZPZtU

20/09/2026

What can genetics tell us about the future of a species? 🦎

For the Critically Endangered Nangur Spiny Skink, quite a lot.

New research published in Conservation Genetics has revealed important insights into the genetic health of the species’ only two remaining wild populations, at Nangur and Oakview National Parks in south-east Queensland.

The findings show both populations have very low genetic diversity, with the situation particularly concerning at Nangur. But importantly, this research is also helping provide a clearer roadmap for recovery, informing how carefully managed movement, captive breeding and genetic rescue should help strengthen the species’s future.

In partnership with Queensland Environment, FAME has helped support the genetic work underpinning this research, turning science into practical information that can guide conservation action. 🦎

🔬 Read the newly published research: https://ow.ly/YHaG50ZO8Bi
🦎 Read the latest project update: https://ow.ly/yT8N50ZO8Bj

Photo courtesy Dan Ferguson