130 Australian Geographicit threatens similar species numbers
with extinction. Why is invertebrate
conservation so often about butterflies
and rarely about moths, spiders or
grasshoppers, which, ecologically, can
be more significant? The endangered
golden sun moth is an exception that
proves my point. It’s a pretty day-
flying moth that looks like a butterfly
and is found around Melbourne and
Canberra. So it gets attention, but for
reasons that reinforce my concerns.
I want to live in a country where
every species is valued and saved,
not just those that tick certain boxes.
I sometimes see heartening signs that
conservation efforts are beginning to
include species that occasionally attack
people, such as calls for better protec-
tion of sharks. The Victorian govern-
ment placed a stinging bull ant on its
list of threatened species deserving
protection, and provided a water
supply to help the rare but drab Mt
Donna Buang wingless stonefly.
I don’t want less spent on mammals
and birds. But I would like a discourse
on favouritism that lifts public con-
cerns about funding shortfalls. As one
of the world’s wealthiest countries, we
should be doing much more to help
our wildlife. The Christmas Island
forest skink attracted very little
government assistance and can’t now
be saved. But Australia has many
species that would benefit from a more
inclusive approach to conservation.
We can all help with that by
donating to campaigns that benefit less
charismatic species and by making our
voices heard on social media and to
relevant organisations and governments.
When we see favouritism at play, we
need to remind the public and the
powers that be that many Australian
species are not getting a fair go.I
N 2013 I SAW the last Christmas
Island forest skink in captivity on
the island, eight months before its
death marked the loss of its species.
What disturbs me about this is not
only its extinction, but the lack of
interest it aroused. There were few
media reports to mark Australia losing
one of its unique animals.
There was far more attention four
years earlier when the Christmas
Island pipistrelle, a bat, became
extinct. And there were news reports
in June 2016 when a rat, the Bramble
Cay melomys, was declared extinct.
Mammals are more newsworthy than
lizards, it seems.
The lizard’s extinction would surely
have made the news had it occurred
near a major city. The endangered
striped legless lizard, found around
Canberra and Melbourne, and grass-
land earless dragon, a resident of
Canberra, sometimes feature in the
media, unlike most rare reptiles.
Importantly, and unlike most threat-
ened reptiles, they attract significant
conservation funding.
The forest skink would probably
have made the news had its demise,
like that of the melomys, been
blamed on climate change, but the
main culprit seems to have been the
introduced Asian wolf snake. The lizard
was far away and succumbed to a less
newsworthy problem.
Vast numbers of plants and inverte-
brate species could follow quietly into
oblivion. In April 2016 I attended
a workshop about myrtle rust, the
frightening South American pathogen
killing Australian plants. Work is
underway to save two species in dire
straits – the angle-stemmed myrtle and
Sunshine Coast myrtle, which grow
near Brisbane and the Sunshine Coast.The even rarer narrow-leaved
malletwood – known from fewer than
30 wild trees in a central Queensland
national park – is not being managed at
all. A cultivated specimen died within
two years of rust infection. Will the
species be saved? It’s poorly known
with an unappealing name, living in a
remote location. I fear for its future.
I do not fear for unassailably popular
koalas. They’re likened to teddy bears
and biologists have suggested they tug
at our heartstrings because they have
the head-to-body ratio of a young
child. They receive plenty of media
interest and conservation funding.
Imagine if attractive people received
privileged hospital treatment and
special government grants. We’d reject
that world as unfair, but that’s how
I see Australia’s conservation approach.
As a signatory to the UN’s Conven-
tion on Biological Diversity, Australia
is legally bound to protect all species.
All biodiversity has intrinsic value
and species have ecological roles in the
communities they inhabit.
All species should be saved, not just
those we find appealing. Yet, in practice,
mammals and birds get most funding.
This suits many in government, who
don’t want to give all the funding
required to save dwindling species.
Australians should think seriously
about the distorting influence exerted
by favouritism. Questions should be
asked about why the feral cat problem
receives so much funding while little
is spent on myrtle rust, despite the factTIM LOW lives in a state
of perpetual surprise at
everything wild and alive.
Read more from him at his
blog on the AG website.Even uncharismatic plants and reptiles, TIM LOW explains, are worthy
of our love, attention and protection from extinction.PARTING SHOT
ILLUSTRATION: BEN SANDERSStop the quiet
slide into oblivion