Family: Thylacomyidae.
Status: Endangered.
Size: 1 to 2 feet in length, tail 8 to 12 inches, weight 2 to 5 lbs.
Diet: Omnivore.
Characteristics: Nocturnal.
Area: Australia.
Offspring: 1 to 3 pups.
Predators: Dingoes, foxes, cats.
· The Commonwealth of Australia Endangered Species Program has chosen the bilby as its mascot to represent all endangered species.
· The greater bilby is also known as Rabbit-Eared Bandicoot, Rabbit Bandicoot, Pinkie and Dalgyte.
·
The lesser
bilby (macrotis leucura) was more aggressive than the greater bilby. It has not been seen since
1931 and is presumed extinct.
·
Like a rabbit, it can stand on its hind feet with its front
paws tucked, to scan its surroundings.
·
Bilbies get most of their water from the foods they eat.
A little over 200 years ago, there were millions of bilbies in Australia. The Aborigines hunted them for their soft fur, but never to excess. When settlers arrived from Europe, they introduced animals such as foxes and cats, who prey on the bilby, as well as rabbits, with whom the bilby has to compete for territory. As well, as people took over the land for farms and settlements, the range of the bilby was diminished. The current population of the bilby is numbered at only a few hundred across all of Australia. They resemble rabbits, with their long, transparent ears, but their noses are longer and hairless, and their tails are long and black, with white tips. Their fur is mostly soft gray with a white underbelly and white legs. These small animals eat a variety of foods, including insects, small animals (mice, lizards), seeds, fruit and plants. They live in burrows and along with their food, manage to eat quite a bit of soil as well. While in their burrows, they sleep in a squatting position, rather than lying down (similar to rabbits), and their ears flop forward to cover their eyes. They sleep during the day, to escape the heat. Although they often live alone, it’s not unheard of for bilbies to live in family groups of a mother, a father and several youngsters. The strong front claws enable them to dig fast and deep, while the claws on their hind legs are used mainly for grooming. There has been a recent movement in Australia to replace the Easter Bunny with the Easter Bilby. Created in 1991 by The Foundation for Rabbit-Free Australia, the Easter Bilby is now found in storybooks and is available as a chocolate treat for Easter. A supermarket chain donates funds from the sale of the chocolate bilbies it sells to aid Australian wildlife research. Because the bilby is very important to the traditional culture of native people of Australia such as the Pitjantjatjarra and Warlpiri people, they’re contributing their valuable traditional knowledge to help save them.
The greater bilby once ranged throughout 70% of mainland Australia, from Western Australia to SW Queensland and New South Wales. Even as recently as 1950, they were described as plentiful, but now they can only be found in the wild in small areas of SW Queensland and the border area between Western Australia and scattered portions of the Tanami Desert in the Northern Territory. They live in arid regions, grasslands, shrub lands and woods, in areas where there are a minimum of rabbits and foxes. Bilbies have several burrows within one area, but they usually stay within 100 metres of the burrow openings for a quick escape.
Bilbies breed during the months of March to May. Although the females have eight teats, they usually only give birth to one to three tiny (up to ˝ inch long) pups approximately two weeks after mating. Their pouches open from the back, and the babies remain in the pouch for two-and-a-half weeks. By then, they’re too large to remain in the pouch and the mother leaves them in a burrow while she hunts for food. The entrance to the burrow goes down in a spiral for about two metres below ground, making it difficult for a fox or dingo to enter. The female nurses the pups for a further two weeks before they begin to come out and learn to hunt with her. The youngsters often build a burrow nearby that of their mother’s when they leave home. Bilbies have lived in captivity for up to eight years. Their longevity in the wild is unknown.