Cute, Critically Endangered Animal Spotted on Trail Cam

The cutest little critically endangered northern hairy-nosed wombat crossed paths with a trail cam in the Richard Underwood Nature Refuge in southwest Queensland, Australia. Ecologists at the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) say there are only about 400 northern hairy-nosed wombats left in the wild, so seeing one of these on their cameras was an exciting moment.

What makes the sighting even more rare is that this wombat is a juvenile.

“What’s rarer than a Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat? A juvenile Northern Hairy-nosed Wombat,” AWC wrote in an Instagram post announcing the rare footage. “It’s the first juvenile to be spotted at the refuge in years – a positive sign that the wombats are breeding again.”

AWC says the northern hairy-nosed wombat is one of the rarest mammals on the planet. A press release further describes how AWC found the footage.

“Andy Howe, AWC Senior Field Ecologist, was scrolling through over 100 hours of motion-sensor footage captured on the eastern portion of the refuge, when the young wombat emerged from an active burrow on the screen,” the conservancy wrote in the release.

Although this isn’t the first joey of this species born at the refuge, AWC says it is the first juvenile they’ve seen in a few years.

Watch the cute northern hairy-nosed wombat on a trail cam here:

Critically Endangered Animal Spotted on Trail Cam With Baby (!)