Kangaroo Island Dunnart

Kangaroo Island Dunnart, 2020
Yulia Shtern, Endangered/Extinct/Enslaved Series
3 1/4 x 5 x 2 1/4 “
upcycled materials, glue, varnish
180

Kangaroo Island dunnarts are only found on the Kangaroo Island, South Australia. They are tiny marsupials, with the adults being 8-9 cm long and weighing under 25 grams. They are nocturnal, and their diet consists mainly of insects such as spiders and ants. Females have a pouch that can hold more than one baby, and they can give birth more than once a year. Being one of Australia’s 10 most endangered species with estimated less than 500 individuals in the wild prior to the fall of 2019, this species is on the brink of extinction following the Australian bushfires that have burned down about a third of the Kangaroo Island, their only habitat.
Conservation status: critically endangered. Threats to existence: wildfires, habitat loss, predation by cats and other predators.