Kowari, small predator, gets bigger wildlife reserve protection on South Australia's Sturt Stony Desert gibber

The kowari was particularly confined to the gibber Sturt Stony Desert, covered by small red stones, in South Australia's northeast.
Image by Nathan Beerkens, courtesy Landscape South Australia: SA Arid Lands.

The kowari, a small but fearsome nocturnal predator of insects, spiders and small lizards, was itself being protected from 2021 by a 123 square kilometres wildlife reserve being enlarged with federal government funding at one of its last refuges: the Clifton Hills cattle station in the Sturt Stony Desert of South Australia.

The kowari (dasyuroides byrnie) was listed as vulnerable on the IUCN (International Union for Conservation of Nature) Red List. It was confined to southwest Queensland and northeast South Australia, particularly the gibber Sturt Stony Desert, covered by small red stones. This didn’t protect it from feral cats and other introduced predators.

Team Kowari, a not-for-profit combined effort by  researchers at the University of Sydney, Arid Recovery and the South Australian government, was formed to raise the profile of the kowari.

The kowari is far more elusive than other carnivorous desert marsupials, including the crest-tailed and brush-tailed mulgaras. The kowari is distinguished by its black, bushy, coarse black tail.  During nightly forays, kowaris could cover up to 1.7 kilometre, eating whatever prey or small carrion they catch or find. Kowaris used a deep shelter burrow for several nights but may have multiple burrow sites within their home range that may be up to 25 square kilometres.

Also, as part of the $1.3 million from the federal government in 2021 to protect endangered native animals in South Australia, a safe haven site near Kimba on Eyre Peninusula was set to quadruple in size, from 891 hectares to 3,828 hectares, enabling the numbats, Shark Bay bandicoots and western quolls to be reintroduced to the region.