Current Research

Current Research

The work of Taronga’s scientists encompasses many important areas of scientific endeavour, from the enormous living organism that is the Great Barrier Reef to the tiny Corroboree Frog. Our research aims to understand and address the key threats that impact on wildlife and their habitats, and promote species adaptability and ecosystem resilience.

Below are the current projects that the Taronga team is leading and contributing to in the areas of Ecology, Biodiversity Conservation, Wildlife Health, Behaviour, Welfare, and Nutrition.

Big City Birds App
Big City Birds App

Ecology

The Big City Birds project focuses on five bird species: Sulphur-crested Cockatoo, Australian Brush-turkey, Australian White Ibis, Little Corella, and Long-billed Corella. Additional species can be reported by selecting "other".

This project aims to engage the general public and keen bird watchers to report sightings using the Big City Birds app or website. Their whereabouts, behaviours, communal roosts, and nest sites are of interest to researchers at the Max Planck Institute of Animal Behavior, Taronga Conservation Society Australia, and The University of Sydney.

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Big City Birds App
Sulphur-crested Cockatoos individually marked with paint, report your sightings using the Clever Cockie app
Sulphur-crested Cockatoos individually marked with paint, report your sightings using the Clever Cockie app

The Clever Cockie project aims to characterise vocalisations and learnt foraging behaviour within and between subpopulations and to investigate potential social-cognitive mechanisms promoting urban invasion and adaptation.

We encourage everyone who encounters a marked Cockie to report their sighting using the Big City Birds app - even if it's the same bird day after day, we are interested! This information helps us learn about individual bird's behaviour and that of the population.

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Sulphur-crested Cockatoos individually marked with paint, report your sightings using the Clever Cockie app
Hollows as Homes
Hollows as Homes

The Hollows As Homes project asks you to report tree hollows and nest boxes and the wildlife using this habitat across Australia using our website.

Changes to the landscape from urbanisation and agriculture not only reduce the amount of trees, and homes for animals, but also create big gaps between the remaining trees and bushland.

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Hollows as Homes
The Urban Field Naturalist Project
The Urban Field Naturalist Project

The Urban Field Naturalist Project

The Urban Field Naturalist Project asks us to contribute our observations of nature as a story. We share our lives with a diverse array of other living creatures if we pay attention, each of them is an invitation into a unique and intricate mode of life, into an entire world of growth and decay, of communication and sensation, going on right under our noses.

Take a moment to learn a little more about the plants and animals we share our homes with. As our worlds are getting smaller, we make them bigger by paying attention to the details. Share your story (~200 words) with an image so we can all learn about the unique life around us.

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The Urban Field Naturalist Project
Greater Bilby. Photo: Chris Wheeler
Greater Bilby. Photo: Chris Wheeler

Conservation ecology of Greater Bilby: survival, reproductive success and movement ecology in a breeding sanctuary in NSW

The Greater Bilby is an iconic, threatened marsupial that was once widespread throughout arid and semi-arid Australia, including NSW. Due to habitat loss and introduced predators and herbivores, the Greater Bilby has been locally extinct in NSW for more than a century.

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Greater Bilby. Photo: Chris Wheeler
A dingo in long grass
A dingo in long grass

Developing a scent-based management tool for Dingoes and other Wild Dogs in Australia

This project aims to develop biologically relevant predator management tools based on the dingo's natural communication system. Understanding how long particular critical signals persist in dingo scent marks under natural conditions is critical to applying these territorial signals to manage the movements of dingoes in key areas including around reintroduction sites and livestock areas.

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A dingo in long grass
Regent Honeyeater
Regent Honeyeater

Regent Honeyeater study: Impact of zoo-based life experience, health indices and demographics on post-release fitness and survival

The aim of the project is to identify trends in the relationship between zoo based experiences, health data and characteristics of post-release birds. The first trial release occurred in 2000 at Capertee, NSW.

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Regent Honeyeater
The iCow project
The iCow project

Human-wildlife conflict program, Botswana

The welfare of humans and animals is impacted by livestock-carnivore conflicts. Dr Neil Jordan has several projects underway and under-development as part of his ongoing research program in Botswana within the broad theme of livestock-carnivore conflict mitigation.

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The iCow project
Platypus
Platypus

Platypus futures

Multiple groups have been working hard to improve our understanding of impacts of river system regulation (dams, diversions) and climate change on platypus health and distribution, with the goal to reduce extinction risk.

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Platypus
Paddling surfer
Paddling surfer

Making the waves safe

For over 30 years, Taronga has housed the Australian Shark Attack File and has an established reputation for research in shark biology. In response to multiple human fatalities from shark attacks in recent years, the NSW DPI Fisheries, commissioned a review of current and emerging shark deterrent technologies and in 2015 convened a Scientific Shark Summit to address the issue of shark attacks.

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Paddling surfer
Green Turtle release
Green Turtle release

Tracing origins, resource use and movements of green turtles in NSW

This study is using genetic and stable isotope analysis to determine the breeding origin of green turtles found in NSW waters and to identify foraging hotspots along the NSW coast.

Green turtles are listed globally as Endangered by the IUCN and are one of Taronga’s Legacy species. To date, research on marine turtles has focussed on natal breeding sites in Queensland, neglecting important resting and foraging grounds in NSW.

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Green Turtle release
Port Jackson Shark
Port Jackson Shark

Movement, migration and social networks in wild shark populations

Sharks are apex predators and have played a key role in keeping our oceans healthy for millions of years. Our work on wild Port Jackson (PJ) sharks in Jervis Bay since 2012 using novel acoustic monitoring and genetic analyses has revealed important knowledge of their ecology and life history.

 

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Port Jackson Shark
Coral reef
Coral reef

Biodiversity Conservation (Reproductive Biology & Genetics)

Reef Recovery

The Great Barrier Reef and other reef systems around the world are threatened by multiple processes, particularly ocean acidification and warming as a result of climate change. Reefs are complex life support systems and their degradation has devastating impacts on marine and terrestrial animal populations, including humans.

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Coral reef
Yellow-spotted Bell Frog. Photo: Michael McFadden
Yellow-spotted Bell Frog. Photo: Michael McFadden

Frog Conservation Biobanking

Zoo-based amphibian conservation breeding programs play a critical role in supporting ongoing management and, in some cases, re-establishment of wild populations of several threatened frog species. Advances in amphibian assisted reproductive technologies are set to bolster conservation outcomes from breed-for-release programs primarily by ensuring populations remain genetically diverse and adaptive to the suite of environmental stressors that continue to drive declines. 

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Yellow-spotted Bell Frog. Photo: Michael McFadden
Australian Little Penguins
Australian Little Penguins

Sensing the seascape

This project focuses on a biodiversity hotspot and also a literal climatic hotspot on the area on and around Montague Island on the south-eastern coast of Australia. The work involves assessing the effects of climate change on predator and prey species in this ecosystem and to use this knowledge to guide policies on human activities in the area.

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Australian Little Penguins
Echidna quills
Echidna quills

Forensic science and native animal conservation

Huge discrepancies have bee identified between the number of apparently ‘captive-bred’ animals being exported overseas, and the capacity of actual breeding programs. Up until now there has been no scientific tool available to test if an animal has been raised in captivity or taken from the wild. Taronga’s Forensic team has developed an exciting, novel method to identify the origin of the animal.

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Echidna quills
Southern Corroboree Frogs
Southern Corroboree Frogs

Amphibian IVF

Assisted reproductive techniques (ART), similar to that used in humans, have been adapted for many species of wildlife around the world. Now, we hope to develop and use ART with four critically endangered Australian frog species.

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Southern Corroboree Frogs
Dr Rebecca Hobbs in the lab
Dr Rebecca Hobbs in the lab

Semen collection and cryopreservation in the Eastern Water Skink

To our knowledge, there are only four published reports of successful semen collection in lizards: common geckos, green iguana, brown anole and McCann's skink; and only one detailed study of reproductive physiology and ejaculate traits.

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Dr Rebecca Hobbs in the lab
Christmas Island
Christmas Island

Wildlife Heath

Christmas Island Habitat Health

Christmas Island is home to several highly threatened species of reptiles, two of which have since become extinct-in-the-wild. Highly successful captive breeding programs were established on Christmas Island and at Taronga in 2009 and have rescued both species from extinction, and re-introductions are currently underway in predator-proof “soft release” sites on the island.

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Christmas Island
Koala joey
Koala joey

Do Koala Retrovirus variants alter immune function in captive koalas?

This project aims to determine whether there is any detectable impact of Koala Retroviruses on the immune system of the Koala. 

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Koala joey
Long-nosed Potoroo
Long-nosed Potoroo

Health Assessment and translocation of Long-nosed Potoroo, Southern Brown Bandicoots and Eastern Quolls

At least 36 Long-nosed Potoroos will be translocated over three years into Booderee NP following veterinary evaluation and health assessment provided by the Australian Registry of Wildlife Health at Taronga. It has been more than 100 years since Long-nosed Potoroos roamed Booderee NP.

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Long-nosed Potoroo
A sea turtle getting ready for release
A sea turtle getting ready for release

Satellite tracking of Sea Turtles

Satellite tracking of rehabilitated sea turtles will provide a better indication of release success, especially if the satellite tags remain functional for an extended period of time once the turtles are released to sea. Tracking can help indicate the level of impact of marine pollution/human interaction on turtles and provide critical information about habitat use.

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A sea turtle getting ready for release
Bellinger River Snapping Turtle hatchling
Bellinger River Snapping Turtle hatchling

Bellinger River Snapping Turtle: mortality investigation, virus ecology and husbandry

Following the collaborative project that led to the rapid detection and diagnosis of the diseases causing the Bellinger River Turtle decline, this project will understand the ecology of the virus to assess risks posed to other species and waterways and build an experimental model and diagnostic tests to inform the development and assessment of disease control methods, including the potential development of a vaccine.

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Bellinger River Snapping Turtle hatchling
Egg shells
Egg shells

Origins and potential impacts of a multisystemic bacterial infection emergent in Christmas Island Geckos

An unusual Enterococcus species has been identified as the cause of severe facial swellings and multi-systemic infection in Christmas Island Geckos. There are grave concerns that the infection could become established in the last remaining endemic reptile species on the island, the Christmas Island Giant Gecko.

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Egg shells
Koala in tree
Koala in tree

Administering Safe Pain Relief to Koalas

Koalas suffer painful conditions from burns and other injuries, as seen during the Black Summer fires. In collaboration with the University of Sydney, we investigated how koalas absorb, distribute and metabolise pain medications, specifically paracetamol and tramadol.

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Koala in tree
Tasmanian Devil joeys
Tasmanian Devil joeys

Behaviour, Welfare and Nutrition

Dining with Dasyurids

Healthy populations of threatened dasyurid marsupials at Taronga like the Tasmanian devil and the northern quoll are crucial for ongoing wild reintroduction programs.

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Tasmanian Devil joeys
Australian Brush-turkey
Australian Brush-turkey

Brush-turkey adaptation to human-modified landscapes

Brush Turkeys are increasingly being seen as a pest around suburban Sydney. The aim of this project is to gauge public perceptions around turkeys in general and study the basic behavioural profile of those Brush Turkeys within the zoo grounds. 

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Australian Brush-turkey
A satellite tracking device being placed on a sea turtle's shell
A satellite tracking device being placed on a sea turtle's shell

Building the next generation of analysis tools for animal tracking data

Tracking animals with electronic telemetry devices to gain insight into where they go, how they use their environment and their interactions with other animals has become a major research focus in ecology. However, a lack of statistically sound and intuitive analysis tools has meant that the true potential of animal movement data is often unexplored.

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A satellite tracking device being placed on a sea turtle's shell
Southern Corroboree Frogs
Southern Corroboree Frogs

A silver spoon start to life: investigating the effect of dietary carotenoids on fitness-determining traits in the critically endangered Southern Corroboree Frog

Taronga is a partner on an investigation into the effect of dietary carotenoids on fitness determining traits in the critically endangered Southern Corroboree Frog. 

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Southern Corroboree Frogs