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A leading researcher has described the extinction of the Christmas Island shrew as "another stain" on Australia's environmental record. The mouse-sized mammal was officially added to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's (IUCN) Red List of extinct species this month. The Australian government is a member of the IUCN, the world's most comprehensive database for the conservation status of flora and fauna. Charles Darwin University professor John Woinarski said questions about the shrew's extinction had been asked for decades. "It's another species that we can't share with our grandchildren or their descendants," Professor Woinarski said. The extinction has renewed concern for the native wildlife remaining on the remote territory of Christmas Island, more than 1,500 kilometres north of mainland Australia. 'Twilight zone' The Christmas Island shrew was abundant when the remote island was first settled and the commercial mining of phosphate began in 1888. The shrew ate beetles and other invertebrates on the rainforest floor, and was distinctive for its twittering cry and musky scent. "[The shrew] almost disappeared within a couple of years after black rats were inadvertently introduced to the island," Professor Woinarski said "It's been in this sort of twilight zone of … is it extinct for at least 40 years now." He believed the introduction of a parasite carried by the rats was to blame. Four of five mammals endemic to Christmas Island have become extinct since the late 1800s. That includes two types of native rats, the bulldog and Maclear's, and a tiny bat known as the Christmas Island pipistrelle. Lone survivor Western Sydney University ecologist Annabel Dorrestein said the shrew's listing came as no surprise. "It also drives home the message of like, we really don't have many native animals left, and you really need to help what is left on the island," she said. Dr Dorrestein is researching the Christmas Island flying fox, which is the only surviving mammal endemic to the Island and is critically low in number. "With [settlement] came, obviously, hunting, and the introduction of black rats, of yellow crazy ants, and over time, the wolf snake," she said. Dr Dorrestein urged the federal government to take urgent action to protect native fauna on Christmas Island. "I do think that, because they're so far away as an island, the island doesn't get the attention and money it deserves," she said. "Christmas Island flying foxes [are] listed as critically endangered, but is the only one that doesn't have a recovery plan in Australia." A recovery plan is adopted by the federal environment minister to set out research and management actions for a listed threatened species. A spokesperson from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment, and Water (DCCEEW) told the ABC the flying fox was under "conservation advice" rather than a recovery plan. "A Recovery Plan would not provide a significant conservation planning benefit above current mechanisms," the spokesperson said in a statement. A total of 39 native mammals have been declared extinct in Australia since colonisation. The DCCEEW spokesperson said "the loss of any species is a tragedy". "The Australian government drew a line in the sand in 2022 by committing to prevent new extinctions in the Threatened Species Action Plan 2022-2032. "The Environment Protection Reform Bill contains strong measures for the protection and restoration of the environment, including for listed threatened species."
