A team of Charles Sturt University researchers are on a mission to help the homeless - no matter what species they might be.
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Using 3D-printing technology, the cross-campus teams have designed artificial nesting boxes for displaced animals, that mimic their surrounding thermal conditions.
"It's been a couple of years in the making with a few iterations throughout," said Mick Callan, who has spearheaded the project alongside his supervisor Professor David Watson.
The eventual design incorporates a double-wall component with slots for timber panelling inside.
"Essentially it's a timber nest box inside an esky," Mr Callan said.
"We've now made some modular designs that can connect and be made deeper so that we can attract different species."
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Mr Callan predicts the design can become home to "everything from cockatoos to microbats".
A particular design flaw in most artificial nest boxes is that they trap heat. The timber can cause the box to reach temperatures over 50 degrees on the hottest of days, making it essentially unlivable inside.
The CSU designed boxes render this problem mute.
"On hot days the temperature [inside the box] stays cool and on cool days the temperature stays warm," Mr Callan said.
"That's exactly what we set out to do and we did it."
Patent now pending, the design is now on its way to an industrial producer before it will be used more widely across the state.
Unfortunately, prototypes of the design were destroyed in the Gospers Mountain fire before the team could observe their use in the spring breeding season.
Most of the other trial boxes were used around the Bathurst campus of CSU and Mount Panorama, but those too have had to be removed now due to concerns the plastic would become unsafe after prolonged exposure to the elements.
Using injection moulding, the team will be able to make the newly-built boxes last "for many, many decades", according to Mr Callan.