Australian plants and animals may be removed from endangered species list after concerted pest eradication effort
We're often talking about plants and animals being added to endangered species lists, but this time three plants and a whale species have been recommended for removal. The potential de-listing from Tasmania’s endangered species list is the result of decades of research and conservation work.
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00:00Until about a decade ago, rabbits and rodents had driven some plant species on sub-Antarctic
00:07Macquarie Island to the brink. A major environmental effort has turned that around.
00:13The Macquarie Island pest eradication project was at the time the largest island eradication
00:19project attempted in the world.
00:21Two plants found on the island, the Cook's tussock grass and the prickly shield fern,
00:26have recovered enough that scientists want to remove them from Tasmania's endangered
00:30species list.
00:32This is a really substantial outcome from that work that's happened on Macquarie Island.
00:37A third plant, the shade plantain, found on mainland Tasmania, is also recommended for
00:43delisting.
00:44Which is a native herb, a perennial herb, and it has been removed because it's actually
00:49found to be pretty robust.
00:53As are humpback whales, which were removed from the national threatened species list
00:57two years ago.
00:58We have the western and the eastern population combined. They're both well and truly in excess
01:04of 40,000 and they're continuing to recover at the highest rate possible.
01:12Scientists say these successes don't mean conservation efforts are no longer needed.
01:17They're urging continued monitoring to make sure these species keep thriving.