Claws on the Line

More than 30 species of burrowing crayfish can be found in Tasmania, and all but three are found nowhere else in the world. Many of them are only found in small areas, and are threatened by a range of issues. The beauty of burrowing crayfish is that they leave unambiguous evidence of their presence: the openings of their burrows, often marked by a chimney of excavated pellets. So mapping their distributions is (relatively!) easy.

Are there any crayfish burrows in your area? Are you confident that there are none, or have you seen many? By providing this information, you can help improve the maps for all Tasmania's crayfish species. Most of these species are found nowhere else in the world!

You can also map burrows on the iNaturalist app or website, and provide your iNaturalist username here.

Where private land is involved, please make sure the landowner is willing to share this information - with the NatureTrackers team, and/or publicly. Precise locations of crayfish burrows provided through this questionnaire will be maintained in a secure database and will not be shared beyond the project coordinators and statisticians without your permission. If you are using iNaturalist, select the appropriate 'Geoprivacy' to ensure this.

Please also let us know if you might like to learn more, or help in organised surveys to find out where these intriguing little animals live.

The following questionnaire is part of the new Claws on the Line project, coordinated by the Bookend Trust's NatureTrackers programme (you can also contact us on naturetrackers.tas@gmail.com). It just takes a few minutes to complete...