Terri Irwin had a very different one in 2015. She bought 33,000 acres of adjoining land, about 52 square miles, and added it to Mourachan, a conservation property in St George, Queensland, according to Australia Zoo . Today the zoo says it and Wildlife Warriors hold 117,174 acres there, about 183 square miles, of one of the rarest habitat types in Australia.
For most people, a major purchase is usually a house or a car.
The site is also the westernmost habitat for koalas, which the zoo calls vulnerable, and the land protects several endangered ecosystems and species . The yakka skink is the least familiar of the three. It eats plants and animals and may be active by day, at dusk, and sometimes at night. Mourachan is not the only property the zoo and Wildlife Warriors look after. The way was not easy. Days after the reserve was named, plans to mine bauxite there were unveiled. Terri led a campaign that was credited with helping the Queensland government pass legislation to protect the land six years later. The zoo is also open to researchers. Those interested in studying either ecology or conservation at Mourachan can apply by completing a request form and emailing it to the zoo’s research team. The zoo’s properties page doesn’t list population counts, so it’s hard to say how many pythons, skinks or koalas now live there. What it does show is a continuing effort to protect a rare patch of Queensland. It’s also a reminder that saving habitat can begin with one purchase, one plan and years of steady work. For nature-lovers, it shows how ambitious conservation goals are often accomplished one parcel of land at a time.
It is a large, secretive lizard that can grow up to 40 cm or about 16 inches long, according to the Queensland government’s species profile . Together they protect more than 450,000 acres across Queensland. In 2007, 330,000 acres of land in Cape York were designated the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve. The reserve has 35 different ecosystems, and the zoo’s team goes there every August to continue research.
The property is home to the Queensland subspecies of the woma python, which it describes as endangered, and to the little-known yakka skink, according to Australia Zoo. It is listed as vulnerable under the Nature Conservation Act in Queensland, and the profile says land clearing is a concern for the species across most of its range in the Brigalow Belt.
