One of the world's rarest mammals had a baby

A northern hairy-nosed wombat appeared on a trail camera in Queensland carrying a joey in her pouch, a sighting conservationists call a hopeful sign for one of the world's rarest mammals. Fewer than 400 of the animals survive, almost all of them in two protected sites. The species was once down to about 35 individuals in the 1980s, which is the kind of number that does not usually come back from anywhere. Staff monitoring the cameras described the moment plainly. They had turned to mush. Each joey matters when the entire population could fit into a small concert hall, and the footage confirmed the wombats are still breeding in the wild. The mother went about her business afterward, unbothered by the people quietly losing their composure on the other side of the lens.