The Wombat Foundation recently contributed towards an important project to conduct genetic analysis – or ‘hair census’ – of the northern hairy-nosed wombat population at Epping Forest National Park (Scientific).
Field officers from the Department of Environment and Science together with volunteers and geneticists from the University of Adelaide spent 10 days in September collecting hair samples. Wombat hairs adhere to double-sided tape set up across burrows, which are then collected each day. The hair sample contain small amounts of DNA which are then analysed to inform our understanding of the wombat population growth and sex ratio.
Stay tuned for details of the outcome of the survey!
