Registrations for the 2026 IDA Conference are now open.

Register

Marsupial mole for Marsupial of the Year!

3 minute read

The marsupial mole has made it through to the top 10 on The Project's Marsupial of the Year Awards! The marsupial that raises the most money wins Marsupial of the Year 2024 – you can help the marsupial mole win by donating to Nyangumarta Rangers. 

The Nyangumarta Rangers care for Nyangumarta Warrarn Indigenous Protected Area (IPA) which covers a vast 2.8 million hectares from the desert to the sea in northern Western Australia. It includes the seemingly endless stretches of Eighty Mile Beach, to Ramsar listed wetlands and the rolling sand dunes of the Great Sandy Desert which are home to the Northern Marsupial Mole.

"This is the hardest of all the animals to find. Every time we go out looking for northern marsupial mole, we find evidence that they're there. But I've never seen one.

Denzel Hunter, Nyangumarta Ranger

The Marsupial Mole is an elusive creature that the Nyangumarta Rangers say is the hardest of all animals to see. It is tiny, golden haired, blind and swims beneath the desert sand dunes. The Nyangumarta Rangers conduct survey work to detect the marsupial mole presence and dig small trenches in sand dunes to monitor their tunnels. The rangers contribute the information they collect to a national database that helps with the long term conservation of the marsupial mole.

(L-R) Trena and Vallerina, Nyangumarta Rangers, surveying for marsupial mole.
Closeup of a marsupial mole tunnel.
Nyangumarta rangers dig trenches to find marsupial mole tunnels in the sand dunes.

"Marsupial moles live in the sand, near the top of the sand dunes. They like it there because underneath, the sand is moist, so it keeps them cool when the surface is hot, and warm when it gets cold at night."

Lynette Wildridge, Nyangumarta Ranger

The Nyangumarta rangers are on the frontline efforts to track and protect the Marsupial mole for future generations. The feral animal control and fire management work that the Nyangumarta Rangers regularly undertake is vital to the protection and survival of the Marsupial mole and many other Australian desert plants and animals.

Quotes were given to The New York Times for their article about marsupial mole, Swimming Beneath Sand, It's 'the Hardest of All Animals to Find'. 

Nyangumarta Warrarn Aboriginal Corporation

Nyangumarta Warrarn IPA rangers work on Country that stretches from the sands of 80 mile back all the way back through the Great Sandy Desert in the east.

Website
Nyangumarta Warrarn Aboriginal Corporation Ranger Teams
Back to top
Share
View all stories

Warning: Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this website may contain images, voices and names of people who have passed away which may cause sadness or distress.