As outback Queensland's tourist season heats up, so does the love life of a local endangered marsupial.
The greater bilby was brought to the brink of extinction through predation by feral cats and foxes, but the small nocturnal creatures are proving they are lovers, not fighters.
Every bilby born is a success story for the species, and for the not-for-profit responsible for restoring the population.
The Save the Bilby Fund started more than 20 years ago, surviving solely off public donations while creating both a breeding program and a predator-free national park at Currawinya, in south west Queensland.
"They're born breeders, they love to breed," manager of the bilby breeding program Kat Castle said.
In Charleville, a four-hour drive north-east of Currawinya, a breeding facility fitted with protected pens that mimic bilbies' natural environments has helped create an "insurance population" for the species.
Jetsetting bilbies
But it's not as simple as picking up the ideal partners, putting them in a pen together, and waiting for fireworks.
Sometimes to make the perfect love match, bilbies must be flown around the country.
"They seem to be really good travellers by air," Ms Castle, who is also a vet, said.
"They're sent by animal courier, in a travel box, and despite not going by first class the bilbies cope well with the relocation.
"[Bilbies are] nocturnal, so if we do things during the day, they get a little disrupted."
Once they reach their destination, the bilbies are quarantined before slowly being introduced to their new hot dates.
Their mellow nature, along with their tendency to breed fast, gives those who work with them optimism for the species' conservation.
"They're pretty-easy going little animals and they're very forgiving," Ms Castle said.
Genetic selection
With a goal of breeding 10,000 bilbies by 2030, the program follows a stud book, under the Australian Species Management Program, to ensure the population maintains strong genetics.
"Each animal is microchipped, so we know exactly who that animal is," Ms Castle said.
"They also have some DNA taken from them, so we can look back and cross reference and know the genetic lines of them.
Once they are old enough, bilbies either join the breeding program or are released into the wild at Currawinya National Park.
The park is protected by a cat and fox-proof fence, letting the wild bilbies focus on what bilbies do best — breeding — without the dangers of feral predation.
And much like the bilbies' population, the Save the Bilby Fund is only growing.
"Last year we raised enough money to build more pens on our program here," Ms Castle said.
"We've increased the carrying capacity so we can breed a lot more bilbies now, thanks to the people who've donated."
