4 days ago
Aussie inventor's valuable secret hidden beneath pile of rocks in outback
Pictures showing what appears to be a simple pile of rocks lying in Australia's remote Pilbara region hide a secret. Deep underneath is a purpose-built 'den' designed to protect one of the region's rarest creatures from Australia's most destructive predators.
The Australian-made invention is being used to stop feral cats burrowing into the homes of northern quolls — a creature pushed to the edge of extinction and now listed as endangered. Ecologists deem this tiny, spotted native carnivore more valuable than any of the resources mined from the region, like iron ore, copper, nickel, gold, or lithium.
Development of the 30kg synthetic Marsupial Den began in 2021, and they were first placed in the field in 2024. But few details about its success in protecting northern quolls have been made public until now.
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Habitat Innovation and Management was funded by mining giant Fortescue to design and manufacture the purpose-built structures to replicate the dimensions of a natural den while providing added protection.
Mick Callan, a founding director of Habitat, told Yahoo News the dens are too shallow for a cat to be able to turn around in, so their natural instinct is to avoid the space. But there's an extra measure that's designed to stop even the most curious cat from entering.
'The entrance size was developed using the skull morphometrics of feral cats, so a full-size adult won't be able to get in there,' Callan said.
Fortescue has reported early monitoring results from its den project appear 'promising'. Like the nest boxes, they've remained cool in the desert heat with maximum internal temperatures up to 16.5 degrees cooler than outside.
It has also supplied images and video to Yahoo showing quolls exploring the inside of the dens, a precursor to using them as shelter and breeding sites.
Since the dens were created, they've been used in projects designed to protect other threatened quoll species, including eastern quoll, spotted-tailed quoll, and western quoll.
Habitat's small team is notable for overhauling the composition of artificial bird and possum nesting boxes, which are needed because most of Australia's hollow-bearing trees have been felled.
Historically, they were made from wood that tended to fall apart after a few years. They also regularly overheated to more than 50 degrees in the summer, a temperature that most wildlife can't survive. But Habitat's injection-moulded, glass-reinforced polymer invention remains cool and lasts for decades.
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With products designed and manufactured in Australia, Callan said his artificial habitat business isn't a big money spinner, but more of a 'passion' project, that's subsidised by ecology consulting work and investors.
'We're always open to taking on new projects. We're at the point where we need species experts coming to us and saying we don't have a solution and we need your help,' he said.
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