The team managed to capture only four Rosenberg’s Goannas over the week because of poor weather on some days, the difficulty of capturing the goannas in dense heath, and competition for the traps from an abundant Lace Monitor population.
‘Noosing at Ku-ring-Gai is different to noosing in the Canberra region because the Rosenbergs at Ku-ring-Gai often ran away well before we got into noosing range,’ said team leader Don Fletcher.
‘Our aim was 10 to 20 DNA samples, so this result is a setback and cause to review what we are doing.’
‘We also learned that Ku-ring-Gai Rosenbergs are tiny. The three males and a female all weighed 0.84 kg on average, where ACT males can exceed 3 kg.
‘All of their measurements were less than the “plausible range” stated on our data entry form. Yet these were all adult animals, and experienced locals assured that they were as large as any Rosenbergs in the area,’ Don said.
The team is hoping for more success on its next DNA collecting trip, to a population near the southern limit of the species in its eastern occurrence, near Khancoban in Kosciuzsko National Park.
The NPA’s goanna project is entirely run by volunteers. Funding for equipment is from three sources – a bequest to the NPA for large animal research, ACT Government Environment Grants, and public donations.
If you would like to donate to this project, you can do so here.