CAN HI-TECH NEST BOXES HELP RECOVER THE GREATER GLIDER?

The humble wildlife nest box has been given a hi-tech overhaul to help greater gliders that were severely impacted by Australia’s bushfire disaster, thanks to a new project partnership between the Australian National University, Greening Australia, and the World Wide Fund for Nature-Australia.

Close to a third of greater glider habitat burned in the 2019-20 bushfires, raising concerns that the iconic wildlife – already under extinction pressure – faces an even greater shortage of the tree hollows crucial to their survival.

Tree hollows that are used by greater gliders can take up to 250 years to form.

Nest boxes can provide alternative shelter to natural hollows, but traditional models, constructed with thin walls, lack thermal protection and can become far hotter than a tree hollow, exposing greater gliders to extreme temperatures.

Heat-stressed greater gliders eat less and, with naturally low fat stores, can perish after a few days of not feeding.

This project channels scientific knowledge of modern building standards using insulation, air gaps, and heat-reflective, fire-resistant, non-toxic coatings to create a safer nest box.

One hundred and twenty hi-tech nest boxes have been mounted in fire-affected forests in Tallaganda National Park and state forest in New South Wales and a further 114 near Bendoc in East Gippsland, Victoria.

Specialist teams had to manoeuvre the 15 kg nest boxes into place up to 30 metres above ground because greater gliders spend most of their time high up in the canopy.

The areas with nest boxes will be monitored and compared to control sites (with no nest boxes) by Australian National University PhD student Jenna Ridley to test if providing a readymade home can increase greater glider numbers.

“Producing and installing high-quality nest boxes is costly, so this project is very important because it will help us understand if expensive interventions like nest boxes are the best use of funding in our urgent mission to halt the decline of greater gliders,” said Dr Kara Youngentob, research fellow at the Australian National University.

For years, Greening Australia has been collaborating with contracted partners to develop and refine nest box design to maximise usage by greater gliders. Working with WWF-Australia and Australian National University, Greening Australia provided the nest box design for this project, which then underwent tweaks and rigorous laboratory testing by Australian National University before being deployed.

Heat chamber tests showed that fully insulated nest boxes exhibited less temperature variability, remained cooler, and, importantly never reached the above 40°C heat extremes of less-insulated nest boxes.

Fully insulated nest boxes also maintained heat longer than any other nest box type in a cold room.

“I've affectionately been calling this design the Goldilocks box because we hope it will keep greater gliders not too hot and not too cold and will help to increase the species’ resilience in a changing climate,” said Dr Kita Ashman, Threatened Species and Climate Adaptation Ecologist, WWF-Australia.

Everyone involved in this project is passionate about saving the world’s largest gliding marsupial, sometimes described as the ‘clumsy possum’, which is under threat from deforestation and the climate change impacts of more extreme droughts, heatwaves and bushfires.

“Since I was a child, I’ve always loved being out in the bush, and fascinated with Australia’s incredible nocturnal animals,” said Greening Australia Senior Program Officer Drew Liepa, who led the installation of nest boxes in East Gippsland. “However, in the past 20 years, we have seen an 80% decline in greater glider populations, and these recent bushfires have been devastating. So undertaking this recovery work is not only critical to support this already vulnerable species, but it’s also very important and personal to me,” “I grew up looking at greater gliders all throughout the Dandenong Ranges. So they have a really special place in my heart. We hope this project can help them persist while the forest recovers and get them moving back into areas that were burnt,” said Dr Kita Ashman.

Greater gliders are nocturnal and survive on a low-calorie diet of eucalypt leaves, conserving energy by gliding.

They’re largely unknown compared to koalas, as Kansas-born Kara Youngentob discovered, with many Australians still unaware greater gliders exist.

“I would talk to people about them, and they'd say, ‘What are you talking about?’ We’d go spotlighting and see these incredible, magical creatures that would glide from tree to tree. They're a treasure for this country. And I think the more people know about them, the more they will fall in love with them and want to protect them, too,” she said.

Want to help protect greater gliders? Here’s how you can make a difference:

• Add your voice to help regenerate nature and stop the extinction crisis.  
• Give a gift to help threatened wildlife, including the greater glider, survive and thrive.
• Learn more about the team of women helping to give greater gliders a fighting chance of survival.
• Find out more about greater gliders.
• Search your backyard to find out if greater gliders could live there, and how well they’re being looked after.

About Greening Australia

Greening Australia has been restoring and conserving Australia’s unique landscapes at scale through collaborative, science-based programs for 40 years. Greening Australia is committed to tackling Australia’s greatest environmental challenges in ways that work for communities, economies, and nature; planting millions of native trees and plants, protecting hundreds of native species, and supporting Traditional Owners’ and First Nations communities’ aspirations for restoring Country.

About ANU

The Australian National University (ANU) was established by an Act of the Federal Parliament in 1946. Its founding mission was to be of enduring significance in the post-war life of the nation, to support the development of national unity and identity, to improve Australia’s understanding of itself and its neighbours and to contribute to economic development and social cohesion. In the seven decades since, the University has cemented its unique national position and its standing as one of the world’s finest institutions.