Spotted! Yarrabilba’s wildlife corridor a hive of activity

Eastern grey kangaroo approaching fauna culvert 

We’ve spotted a range of local wildlife safely moving throughout the community, thanks to the creation of Yarrabilba’s fauna corridor.

The latest sighting was a squirrel glider that ascended one of the rope ladders within the wildlife corridor. Squirrel gliders are small arboreal marsupials that are known to inhabit hollow-bearing trees and nest boxes within the fauna corridor, and are capable of gliding up to 100 metres through the air.

Did you know that the wildlife corridor provides a means for our local wildlife to move freely throughout the landscape, as well as connecting natural areas to the east and west of the community?

The corridor also provides habitat and shelter for a large variety of native animals, and in several locations, the corridor is intersected by road corridors.

These road corridors may form dangerous or even impassable barriers for wildlife which could severely limit the function of the corridor. Because of this, several measures have been taken to facilitate their movement. These include;

Large culverts – these culverts allow for dispersal for a variety of terrestrial animals such as the eastern grey kangaroo and red-necked wallaby that frequent the area. Large rocks are situated on both ends of the culvert to present shelter for smaller animals before and after crossing the culvert.

Log crossings – logs are mounted to the side wall of the culverts, running the entire length of the culvert. These logs provide an alternative crossing for arboreal animals such as or koalas or brushtail possums as the logs keep them off the ground where they may become easy prey for foxes or feral dogs.

Rope ladder crossings – rope ladder crossings span across the road at approximately six metres of height between two poles and connect to surrounding tree canopies. These rope crossings provide another way for arboreal wildlife to cross the road corridor in a relatively safe manner. Gliders and possums are most likely to utilise these crossings.

Squirrel glider ascending access rope to rope ladder

Refuge posts – at both entrances of the culvert, refuge posts are cemented into the ground to provide a safe refuge from predators for arboreal animals such as koalas and possums as they approach or exit the culvert.

Common brushtail possum utilising refuge post

Several cameras are installed to monitor the fauna crossings and to evaluate their success. Across these cameras, hundreds of successful crossings have been recorded.

Every day these fauna crossings are being utilised by wildlife, predominantly macropods but also goannas, possums and even echidnas have been recorded.