Carve Living Space For Life

What is a Hollowhog?


The Hollowhog is a unique wood carving tool that has been specifically designed to create habitat for hollow dependent wildlife.

Through extensive trialling in New South Wales, this Australian designed and manufactured tool has proven its ability to safely and quickly carve hollows in the toughest hardwoods.

The Hollowhog efficiently and safely creates large internal cavities through small entry holes in both living and dead wood. No other damage to the tree’s cambium (living tissue) occurs through the carving process meaning that there is little disruption to a tree’s growth.

The Hollowhog creates a 50 mm entry hole and then progressively carves a larger and larger hollow of any dimensions up to about 600mm wide and long by 600mm deep. The hollow shape can be easily adapted to the size and shape of the tree limb or trunk that it is being carved in.

Recent Project Results: “Equivalent of 56,000 years potential additional breeding and roosting opportunities in less than a month”

What problems does the Hollowhog solve?

The loss of tree hollows throughout the landscape is well documented both here in Australia and in many other parts of the world. Hollows provide homes for at least 300 types of Australian animals including a reported 17% of bird species, 42% of mammals and 28% of reptiles. Worldwide more than 1000 species are known to depend on hollows for nesting and roosting.

Entrance Size

Many fauna prefer to squeeze through the smallest entry possible

Entrance Size

Tree hollows have been demonstrated to remain cooler on hot days and warmer on cool ones than thin-walled nest boxes. For some fauna this attribute is critical for their ability to survive in harsh conditions.

Cavity Size

The internal cavity of a hollow needs to be large enough to accommodate either a single animal or multiple adults and their growing offspring.

“Turning ghost forests into habitat forests”

Some of Our Work

There are many variations to the size and shapes of hollows that can be achieved using the Hollowhog. The tool is just as efficient at making salvaged log hollows and habitat for ground dwelling fauna. 

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