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The Search for Lost Species Is Uncovering Hope for Humanity
Conservation efforts are focused on rebalancing ecosystems so all species can thrive
On September 10, 2020, Tim Faulkner, an Australian conservationist, gathered a small team of wildlife rangers in a scrubby forest 120 miles north of Sydney. When he gave the signal, the rangers lined up in a semicircle. Each held a small, white barrel. Faulkner paused, then gave a quick nod.
One ranger lowered his barrel to the ground and lifted a panel on one end, revealing a creature the size of a large rat, with a shiny black coat and a face like a teddy bear. It poked its head out, sniffed the air, and, after some encouragement and a firm pat on the backside, slinked out into the bush. The event marked a momentous occasion in Australia’s history: It was the first time in 3,000 years that a wild Tasmanian devil had set foot on the mainland.
“Devils are superheroes,” Faulkner tells Future Human. “They’re not a threat to agriculture, they don’t eat livestock, and they don’t eat children. They’re our insurance against fire, feral pests, weeds — you name it.”
A lifelong wildlife activist, Faulkner is now the head of Aussie Ark, a nonprofit that has spent the last decade trying to save the Tasmanian devil from extinction. Devils were driven out of the mainland by dingoes, a species of wild dog that has roamed Australia since the 1700s, and are now found only in the scrublands and forests of Tasmania, where the 25,000 devils that are left face the constant threat of extinction due to Devil Facial Tumor Disease, a parasitic cancer.
Devils play a key role in balancing the local ecosystem. They help control populations of feral cats and foxes and make forests and grasslands more resistant to wildfires. By digging up the forest floor in search of food, they turn up dry leaves, robbing fires of their natural fuel. “The fires earlier this year were absolutely devastating and threatened to rob us of our hope,” said Faulkner. “This is our response to that threat of despair: Come what may, ultimately we will not be deterred in our efforts to put an end to extinction and to rewild Australia.”
“To save the planet — and therefore to save us — we…
