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Fossils formed millions of years ago could give clues on how to conserve Australia’s endangered animals
One animal that may be saved from its critically endangered status is the mountain-pygmy possum.
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BLUE MOUNTAINS, Australia: Fossils formed more than 20 million years ago are helping to save some of Australia’s endangered species from the effects of climate change.
In what has become known as paleoconservation, scientists have discovered that the distant past could provide important clues for the long-term survival of animals on the brink of extinction.
Award-winning paleontologist Mike Archer describes the field as reading a book back through time.
“As you come up through the rock records, the rocks get younger and younger, and all of these contain huge numbers of fossils so we can chart how animals have been changing through time, how they’ve adapted to climate change,” said Prof Archer from the School of Biological, Earth and Environmental Sciences at the University of New South Wales in Sydney.
He added that fossil records help in the understanding of why animals today behave the way they do. There is also a broader realisation that these animals have the capacity to adapt to a much wider range of habitats than we see them in today, said Prof Archer.
SAVING MOUNTAIN-PYGMY POSSUMS
From his laboratory, Prof Archer is helping to forge a better understanding of how wildlife existed millions of years ago.
Thanks to his work on the Riversleigh area of far north Queensland, it was discovered that 20 million or more years ago, a critically endangered Australian marsupial lived in temperate rainforest much further north.
