DARWIN—A tiny marsupial, the Golden Bandicoot, is making a remarkable comeback from the brink of extinction.
It was last seen on the mainland in the early 1950s and by 1980 was presumed to be extinct in the Northern Territory.
But hair from the mammal was detected in some dog droppings in 1994, leading a team of researchers to discover the region's last remaining population on Marchinbar Island.
"Before European settlement, this small native marsupial was found across most of Australia," said Natural Resources scientist Carol Palmer.
Ms Palmer is now heading a project which has seen the Golden Bandicoot translocated to another two uninhabited islands off the north-east Arnhem Land coast.
This is so cyclones, disease and feral animals such as cats - which can wash up on islands from Indonesian fishing vessels - can't wipe out the species by destroying a single island colony.
Ms Palmer and her team of Marthakal rangers from Elcho Island set out to catch 20 bandicoots, transferring them from Marchinbar to Guluwuru from 2007 to 2008.
"On our recent field trip it was found that the population on Guluwuru was breeding successfully and had expanded," Ms Palmer said.
"So, based on that information, we were confident to translocate another small founder population from Marchinbar to Raragala Island."
Ms Palmer said there were signs the conservation project had secured bandicoot populations, listed as endangered in the NT and vulnerable nationally, for the long term.
"The project reinforces the recognition of Territory islands being of critical significance to the conservation of our biodiversity," she said.
But what is even more encouraging for scientist is that the Golden Bandicoot appears to be bucking a national trend.
Earlier this year, experts warned Northern Australia was facing a fresh wave of potentially catastrophic mammal extinctions.
Australia has the worst mammal extinction record in the world, with 22 mammals becoming extinct in the last 200 years.
"We're sure this third population will thrive, thereby providing three separate island populations," Ms Palmer said.
"We really just want to look after these little animals, because they are in danger."
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