Long-nosed potoroo

Potorous tridactylus

Blamed on foxes

IUCN status: Near Threatened

EPBC Predator Threat Rating: Very high

IUCN claim: “The major threat is predation, especially by the invasive Red Fox but also by wild dogs and feral cats.”

Studies in support

Rees et al. (2024) reported their analysis of over 1000 camera traps at two sites, which found a negative spatial association between potoroos and foxes, along with fire history, and vegetation type. Foxes hunt potoroos (Lunney et al. 1990; Long 2001; Glen & Dickman 2008; Claridge et al. 2010; Glen et al. 2011; Davis et al. 2015; Norton et al. 2015). Dexter & Murray (2009) reported that potoroo abundance increased about two years after intensification of poison-baiting in both treatment and control sites, but more steeply in the high intensity poisoning sites, but there was no difference in bait uptake between the treatment and control sites. Robley et al. (2014) reported that three measures of potoroo abundance tended to be higher at sites where poison-baiting was intensified compared to controls, corresponding with differences in bait uptake.

Studies not in support

No association between fox and potoroo abundance was found between two adjacent sites (Norton et al. 2015). Long-nosed potoroo and fox occupancy were not correlated (Robley et al. 2022).

Is the threat claim evidence-based?

Foxes were among variables negatively correlated with long-nosed potoroo abundance in one study with a relatively large dataset.

Evidence linking Potorous tridactylus to foxes. Systematic review of evidence for an association between Potorous tridactylus and foxes. Positive studies are in support of the hypothesis that foxes contribute to the decline of Potorous tridactylus, 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 tridactylus to foxes. Systematic review of evidence for an association between Potorous tridactylus and foxes. Positive studies are in support of the hypothesis that foxes contribute to the decline of Potorous tridactylus, 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

Claridge, A.W., Mills, D.J. and Barry, S.C., 2010. Prevalence of threatened native species in canid scats from coastal and near-coastal landscapes in south-eastern Australia. Australian Mammalogy, 32(2), pp.117-126.

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.

Dexter, N. and Murray, A., 2009. The impact of fox control on the relative abundance of forest mammals in East Gippsland, Victoria. Wildlife Research, 36(3), pp.252-261.

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).

Glen, A.S. and Dickman, C.R., 2008. Niche overlap between marsupial and eutherian carnivores: does competition threaten the endangered spotted‐tailed quoll?. Journal of Applied Ecology, 45(2), pp.700-707.

Glen, A.S., Pennay, M., Dickman, C.R., Wintle, B.A. and Firestone, K.B., 2011. Diets of sympatric native and introduced carnivores in the Barrington Tops, eastern Australia. Austral Ecology, 36(3), pp.290-296.

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

Long, K.I., 2001. Spatio-temporal interactions among male and female Long-nosed Potoroos, Potorous tridactylus (Marsupialia: Macropodoidea): mating system implications. Australian Journal of Zoology, 49(1), pp.17-26.

Lunney, D., Triggs, B., Eby, P. and Ashby, E., 1990. Analysis of scats of dogs Canis-familiaris and foxes Vulpes-Vulpes (Canidae, Carnivora) in coastal forests near Bega, New-South-Wales. Wildlife Research, 17(1), pp.61-68.

Norton, M.A., Prentice, A., Dingle, J., French, K. and Claridge, A.W., 2015. Population characteristics and management of the long-nosed potoroo (Potorous tridactylus) in high-quality habitat in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales. Australian Mammalogy, 37(1), pp.67-74.

Rees, M.W., Wintle, B.A., Robley, A., Pascoe, J.H., Pla, M.L., Birnbaum, E.K. and Hradsky, B.A., 2024. Fox control and fire influence the occurrence of invasive predators and threatened native prey. Biological Invasions, 26(3), pp.685-703.

Robley, A., Gormley, A.M., Forsyth, D.M. and Triggs, B., 2014. Long-term and large-scale control of the introduced red fox increases native mammal occupancy in Australian forests. Biological Conservation, 180, pp.262-269.

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