Australia's extinction crisis

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 15 June 2025

⏱️ 59 minutes

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Summary

Roughly a third of all global mammal extinctions in the last 500 years are thought to have occurred in Australia. At least 34 species have gone extinct since European colonisation, and over 2,000 species of mammals, birds and invertebrates are now listed as critically endangered or threatened. Without substantial and rapid change, this list is almost certain to grow. Ruth Evans investigates what can and should be done to prevent further casualties and turn things around.

Transcript

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0:00.0	The
0:07.0	The There are species that I have had the privilege of working with that I'm not confident my grandchildren will ever see.
0:38.3	We've made a mess when we've got to do something about it.
0:41.3	You know, we've got to be a big of the same. Australia has suffered of its Australia has suffered
1:03.0	of its native terrestrial mammal fauna
1:07.0	in the 200 plus years since European colonisation in 1788.
1:11.6	Somewhere between 30 and 40 species of Australian mammal have become extinct over that period,
1:16.4	far more than any other continent over that same period.
1:19.6	We've lost a whole lot of small wallabies, macropods, potteroos.
1:24.7	The nulliburans.
1:27.4	Pukilas or New Holland mice.
1:43.0	Smokin'nese mice Western Swamp Tortoise
1:45.2	Broadtooth rats
1:46.3	Rat kangaroos and betongs
1:49.5	The Plains Wanderer, the Eastern Brusherbird
1:51.8	Mountain Pygmy Possoms
1:54.3	The Longfooted potteroo
1:55.7	Crumbet Tinker Frog
2:00.1	Swampankinus, a beautiful little carnivorous marsupial, and many more.
2:04.7	And of course, more celebrated and recognised ones such as the Talasin, the Tasmanian tiger.
2:15.1	I mean, in my career as a wild wildest, I've seen koalas go from being listed as a common species to now being endangered species.
2:23.3	I mean, that's happened frighteningly quickly.
	...

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