A fascinating story of ecology, change and #Aboriginal people's care for Country.

The ancient #Burramys -- Mountain Pygmy Possum -- a small species in a harsh habitat, depends on a moth food source which is plummeting.

The #Bogong moths, which 'aestivate' (rather than hibernate) in the mountains, have been a traditional seasonal marker in #Ngarigu Snowy Mountain Country. The #Ngambri people hold the sacred site of 'Uriarra Moth Stone', a flat expanse of granite the size of a basketball court. The name means 'running to the feast'. The rock is a feasting table, where everyone was invited to grow fat on the huge migration of delicious moths collected from the mountain caves in dillybags. The moths use the #MilkyWay to navigate on their huge migration from the Western Plains. But from incredible abundance, the moth population has plunged by 99.5% after three drought years. Possum babies simply starved in their mother's pouch. Following the giant bushfires of Jan 2020, the Burramys population was kept going by 'Bogong bikkies' -- a fallback food they had been tempted to eat made up with moth-like nutrition.

Read on for ' The Song of the Menero women' -- the first printed piece of music in Australia, which calls on the autumn full moon to bring the snows...

"Together these creatures have become symbols of what Australia stands to lose in this warming century: unique, species, ecological relationships and even entire ecosystems."

#ClimateDiary #Australia #MountBlueCow
https://www.biographic.com/of-moths-and-marsupials/