A species can go from endangered or vulnerable to extinct faster than you think. Just Google "Christmas Island" if you don’t believe me. That’s why—every five years—our small, but mighty team takes on the task of mapping wild bilby populations. Because you can’t protect what you can’t locate.

Bilbies don’t make it easy. They’re nocturnal animals. They spend the day underground in some of the most remote and unforgiving landscapes of far western Queensland.

The survey is due early 2026. We have to raise enough money to get it off the ground as soon as we can in the new year.

Firstly, we need to hire a pilot, plane and trained spotters. They will fly the same area that they flew for the 2021 survey. This is, of course, the biggest chunk of the funds needed, as I am sure you can imagine!

Then, for weeks a small group of expert scientists, our Red Dirt Detectives, spend hours combing the desert-like conditions, looking for burrows, prints and scat. It’s hard work tough conditions. They sleep in swags on the floor.

But knowing how essential this survey is to steering our conservation efforts—and therefore the bilby's survival—is what keeps our team going.

It's now five years since the last survey. What impact have the extreme rainfall and floods had on wild bilby populations and their predators?

We urgently need to find out so we can focus our conservation work where it’s needed the most.

This Christmas, please will you send a gift to put wild bilbies on the map?

Right now, Santa won’t be able to find them, but you can and help deliver the gift they most want—to survive and stay off the extinction list. We need to move forward urgently. Please will you help with the key costs?

Your generous support makes real boots-on-the-ground conservation possible. With your help, Max and our Red Dirt Detectives can venture into the most remote corners of western Queensland, spending hours searching for bilby signs—burrows, tracks, and scat—across harsh, unforgiving landscapes. It's tough, relentless work, but supporters like you are the reason our team can keep going.

Together, we're mapping wild bilby populations and protecting these iconic Aussie battlers for generations to come.