The Bogul Story
The Taronga Education Project – Bogul
Mosman High School students have been giving an Aussie Battler a big go! Thirty Year 8 students from Mosman High Schools Academic Extension Class have been busy researching, creating and teaching others about the plight of the Native Bush Rat, better known as the Bogul. Earlier in the year the students came to the Zoo and were introduced to the scientific project being undertaken by The University of Sydney, in conjunction with Taronga Zoo, Mosman Council and National Parks and Wildlife, which aims to reintroduce the Bogul to bushlands currently overrun and degraded by the European Black Rat. The Bogul is highly territorial and is willing to fight to gain and keep territory against the introduced Black Rat. At this stage positive results are being recorded!!
The Taronga Education project is concerned with helping Mosman residents understand the experiment and the little things they can do to help the Bogul battler succeed!
After learning everything they could, the Mosman High students have designed posters, flyers, digital presentations, board games and even computer platform games to educate others about the Bogul in our neighbourhood.
A Bogul Story
It was a cold and windy afternoon…. Sounds like the first line of a horror story but trust me! This is a story with a happy ending!
It was a cold and windy Friday afternoon in late August and Dr Grainne Cleary of the University of Sydney was trapping boguls, or the Native Bush Rat, as part of a re-introduction experiment conducted by the University and in conjunction with Taronga Zoo, National Parks and Wildlife and Mosman Council. The storm had made her work difficult but it was almost done and she was looking forward to a long hot shower and her comfy bed. Checking one of the last traps she came across a small sub adult female bogul! She was weak and wet and breathing shallowly. She was also not expected!! Boguls have been thought extinct in the Mosman bushland since 1901 when the Black Plague, bought over by the European Black Rat, wiped out thousands of native rats in the area. The boguls were brought back to the area as a part of an ecological experiment run by the University to test the hypothesis that the native bogul will push out and eradicate the black rat and return some eco-harmony to the bushlands. But this little girl, weak and tired in the trap, was a complete surprise and evidence that perhaps a few individuals had managed to stay in town and out of sight over the last 100 years. Very exciting!
But Grainne had to work fast and so, to keep this small barely-alive baby warm, she placed it inside her shirt as she checked her last few traps and then headed home. It was dark and the Taronga Wildlife Hospital was closed by now – Grainne knew she would have to take care of the little bogul until she could have it checked by the vets. Much to her partners surprise the little bush battler stayed with her new human friend over the weekend and began to regain energy and health, eventually coming into Zoo care the next week.
After some time at the Taronga Wildlife Hospital our little girl has done well and regained full health. Unfortunately due to a little mishap she has had her tail amputated and can no longer be returned to the wild. It was decided the little hero with the big story would become an education animal and in the future she will be a team member teaching students from all over the state about what they can do to keep native animals safe. She has become part of Project Bogul – an education project run by Taronga with Mosman High School students and displayed at Mosman Festivals Pet Day Out on October 30. As part of their Community Education Project the keen Mosman students will be choosing a name for the tiny girl. Come and visit the stall at Pets Day Out on Alan Border Oval. Keep posted for the development when we reveal the petite hero’s new name!
Rescued Bogul
Grainne and students
