Rare blind northern marsupial mole photographed in Australian outback

The golden coated creature is rarely spotted as it spends most of its life digging underground
KJ Martu Rangers spotted the elusive nothern marsupial mole in Australia
Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa / Instagram
Jacob Phillips9 April 2024

A rare blind creature has been photographed in the Australian outback, much to the excitement of wildlife researchers.

A northern marsupial mole has been snapped, providing a close-up look at the strange, little-known species.

The golden coated creature is rarely spotted as it spends most of its life underground, meaning it is sometimes only spotted a handful of times a decade.

Desert wildlife expert Gareth Catt told ABC News that some people thought the pictures were “an April Fools’ Day joke” when they first saw the mysterious being.

He said: "To see a close-up photo like this is really exciting – I've never seen one myself so I'm pretty jealous of the rangers."

The animals, which are known locally as kakarratul, has no eyes but is equipped with strong claws that allow them to quickly dive under the sand and “swim” deep into sand dunes.

The new photographs mark the second mole sighting in six months for Kanyirninpa Jukurrpa (KJ) Martu rangers in the Western Desert area of northern Western Australia.

The rangers - Aboriginal traditional owners who use cultural and local knowledge to look after their land - stumbled across the mole while they were working in the Great Sandy Desert, which is about 1,500km (932 miles) from Perth.

Mr Catt also told the BBC: “[I know] somebody who spotted one but didn't know what it was - they thought it was a baby guinea pig.

"A lot of wildlife in a desert if you spotted it out of context, and you didn't know what it was, it would look very unusual.”

He explained that many desert animals are under-researched and further study is essential to ensure their conservation in the face of climate change.

He added: "At the most extreme ends of the environment, it becomes really obvious when things change - that's what we're seeing in the desert.

"So that does put extra pressure on animals which are really living at the limits."

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