Australia has the highest extinction rate of mammals in the world. But what does this erasure actually do to us? It’s more profound than many of us realise. 

It’s not just that our country has lost 33 species of its unique mammals since colonisation in 1788. Their eradication has also changed the wider environment in which we live. Even changed what we, and our children, know to be true about the world. 

Today, National Environment and Climate Editor Nick O’Malley on how one group of conservationists has built a veritable time machine to save native animals. And the once-derided tools it’s used to get the job done.

Australia has the highest extinction rate of mammals in the world. But what does this erasure actually do to us? It’s more profound than many of us realise. 
It’s not just that our country has lost 33 species of its unique mammals since colonisation in 1788. Their eradication has also changed the wider environment in which we live. Even changed what we, and our children, know to be true about the world. Today, National Environment and Climate Editor Nick O’Malley on how one group of conservationists has built a veritable time machine to save native animals. And the once-derided tools it’s used to get the job done.

The Morning Edition (formerly Please Explain) brings you the story behind the story with the best journalists in Australia. Join host Samantha Selinger-Morris from the newsrooms of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, weekdays from 5am.

The Morning Edition (formerly Please Explain) brings you the story behind the story with the best journalists in Australia. Join host Samantha Selinger-Morris from the newsrooms of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, weekdays from 5am.

The Morning Edition

The Morning Edition brings you the story behind the story with the best journalists in Australia. Join host Samantha Selinger-Morris from the newsrooms of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, weekdays from 5am.

The Morning Edition brings you the story behind the story with the best journalists in Australia. Join host Samantha Selinger-Morris from the newsrooms of The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, weekdays from 5am.

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