As Australia’s fires only become more common and intense due to climate change, the long-term survival of such a niche and geographically limited subspecies is tenuous. Kangaroo Island’s glossy black-cockatoo population is the focus of a special recovery program, which began in 1995 when the population was at a low of just 158 individuals. The fires have killed thousands of koalas and kangaroos on the island and also have raised questions about whether the Kangaroo Island dunnart ... who is working on a doctoral degree on the Kangaroo Island glossy black-cockatoo at the University of Queensland, is seen with one of the 400 or so remaining birds on the island. Despite they may not be burnt in the fire, their food supply - drooping she-oak cones - has been destroyed. Daniella Teixeira, a conservation biologist at the University of Queensland, said that, although it was not yet safe for staff to get on the ground to make assessments, as much as 60% of the habitat may have been lost. The birds live in seven main flocks, and 75 percent of the population lives in the western and northern parts of the island, where the fires have been particularly disastrous. As of early February, the south-eastern subspecies (mainland) appears to have had at least 30% of its habitat affected by the fires. Another is the Kangaroo Island dunnart (Sminthopsis aitkeni). Kangaroo Island’s glossy black-cockatoo were endangered before the bushfires, and conservations fear extensive areas of its critical habitat have now been burned. Fears are held for Kangaroo Island's endangered glossy black cockatoos with large parts of the bird's habitat destroyed by the bushfires. The Kangaroo Island glossy black cockatoo is a "sub-species" which was completely confined to the island. General birdlife also unimpacted. Glossy Black-Cockatoos on Kangaroo Island On Kangaroo Island, Glossy strongholds are precisely the areas that have been burned on the north and west coasts of the island. KANGAROO ISLAND, Australia — Kangaroo Island is Australia in miniature. ... holds the shiny black-cockatoo in Kangaroo Island, Australia. Wildlife has been decimated, with some fears that certain animals may be near extinction, namely the Glossy Black Cockatoo. If the birds survived the fires then their nearest unburned feeding areas may well be the less Allocasuarina -rich parts of the island… • Kangaroo Island Wildlife Park is a great place to see koalas and learn about the work being done to care for fire impacted animals. The Department for Environment and Water estimates that 75 per cent of South Australia’s endangered glossy black-cockatoo population, found solely on Kangaroo Island, lived within the 210,000 hectares burned in the recent bushfires. The glossy black cockatoo is just one of many species that have been badly hit there, where fires continue to burn. Glossy black cockatoo. The glossy black cockatoo (Calyptorhynchus lathami), is the smallest member of the subfamily Calyptorhynchinae found in eastern Australia.Adult glossy black cockatoos may reach 50 cm (19.5 in) in length. It is a wildlife haven, with its own varieties of kangaroos, echidnas (a … Populations of small marsupials called dunnarts and glossy black cockatoos may have been destroyed in the fires that burned a third of Kangaroo Island, experts say. The fires have killed thousands of koalas and kangaroos on the island and also have raised questions about whether the Kangaroo Island dunnart ... who is working on a doctoral degree on the Kangaroo Island glossy black-cockatoo at the University of Queensland, is seen with one of the 400 or so remaining birds on the island. Glossy black cockatoo. • Rare species endemic such as the Glossy Black Cockatoo and Kangaroo Island Dunnart have been sighted post the fires.