Micah Visoiu – Natural history and conservation of Pookila (New Holland Mouse), Tasmania’s rarest terrestrial mammal

When: Thursday 4th June

Time: 7:15pm for a 7:30 start.

Place: UTAS Sandy Bay Campus – Law Building Seminar Room (Room 132).

About: Native rodents are among Australia’s most overlooked faunal group, yet over the past 250 years, they have been disproportionately affected by land-use change. This has led to numerous extinctions, and many surviving species – including the pookila – have experienced dramatic reductions in their range. In Tasmania, pookila were only formally recognised as present in the state as recently as 1976. Since the late 1990s, however, they have disappeared from nearly all historical sites. A similar pattern of decline has occurred in Victoria over the same period. What has driven this rapid decline? What can be done to reverse it – or is it already too late?

Speaker: Micah Visoiu has been a naturalist for over 40 years. Growing up in Tasmania’s central north, he was mentored from a young age by the Deloraine Field Naturalis Club (later the Central North Field Naturalist Club), which fostered a lifelong passion in the natural world. This early interest led him to a career in conservation ecology. Micah has maintained a long-standing focus on pookila and is currently the Tasmanian representative on the National Recovery Team for the species.

Registration for Non-members

Non-members are welcome. If you think that the club is a good fit for you and you would like to regularly attend events then we ask you sign up as a member (https://tasfieldnats.org.au/member).