Long-footed potoroo

Potorous longipes

Blamed on foxes

IUCN status: Vulnerable

EPBC Predator Threat Rating: Very high

IUCN claim: “Major threats to the species include predation from foxes”

Studies in support

Long-footed potoroos were reported at lower occupancy when fox density was above zero (Robley et al. 2022). Potoroos were also found in 0.1% of foxes’ diet (Davis et al. 2015).

Studies not in support

No studies

Is the threat claim evidence-based?

Foxes were found to be correlated negatively with long-footed potoroos in a single unpublished study which did not test for confounding variables.

Evidence linking Potorous longipes to foxes. Systematic review of evidence for an association between Potorous longipes and foxes. Positive studies are in support of the hypothesis that foxes contribute to the decline of Potorous longipes, negative studies are not in support. Predation studies include studies documenting hunting or scavenging; baiting studies are associations between poison baiting and threatened mammal abundance where information on predator abundance is not provided; population studies are associations between threatened mammal and predator abundance. Gold borders indicate studies that meet qualities of scientific rigour. See methods section in Wallach and Lundgren 2025 for details on evidence categories.
Evidence linking Potorous longipes to foxes. Systematic review of evidence for an association between Potorous longipes and foxes. Positive studies are in support of the hypothesis that foxes contribute to the decline of Potorous longipes, negative studies are not in support. Predation studies include studies documenting hunting or scavenging; baiting studies are associations between poison baiting and threatened mammal abundance where information on predator abundance is not provided; population studies are associations between threatened mammal and predator abundance. Gold borders indicate studies that meet qualities of scientific rigour. See methods section in Wallach and Lundgren 2025 for details on evidence categories.

References

Davis, N.E., Forsyth, D.M., Triggs, B., Pascoe, C., Benshemesh, J., Robley, A., Lawrence, J., Ritchie, E.G., Nimmo, D.G. and Lumsden, L.F., 2015. Interspecific and geographic variation in the diets of sympatric carnivores: dingoes/wild dogs and red foxes in south-eastern Australia. PloS One, 10(3), p.e0120975.

EPBC. (2015) Threat Abatement Plan for Predation by Feral Cats. Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999, Department of Environment, Government of Australia. (Table A1).

IUCN Red List. https://www.iucnredlist.org/ Accessed June 2023

Robley, A.J., Cally, J.G., Murray, A., Bluff, L., Collyer, A., Borg, N. and Phillips, L., 2022. The response of native species to the 2019–20 bushfires and introduced predators in far East Gippsland. Arthur Rylah Institute for Environmental Research Technical Report Series No. 329. Department of Environment. Land, Water and Planning, Heidelberg.

Wallach A.D., Lundgren E.J. (2025) Review of evidence that foxes and cats cause extinctions of Australia’s endemic mammals. BioScience. DOI: 10.1093/biosci/biaf046