Four Australian mammals deemed under greater threat of extinction

Status of northern hairy-nosed wombat, central rock-rat, numbat and Christmas Island shrew upgraded in latest threatened species list

Four mammals - including the northern hairy-nosed wombat and the numbat - have been upgraded to endangered or critically endangered on the updated Australian threatened species list published on Thursday.

The northern hairy-nosed wombat (Lasiorhinus krefftii) has been steadily contracting its range to a single area within Queensland's Epping Forest national park, 855km north-west of Brisbane.