Bandicoots

1. Bandicoots There are several species of Bandicoot around Australia, and although they can be seen during the day are generally nocturnal. Bandicoots are small creatures only about the size of a rat and eat small insects and plants. Several of the Bandicoots around Australia include the Eastern Barred Bandicoot, which is now rare around Australia and the Southern Brown Bandicoot (Isopodan obesulus) found in eastern and western parts of Australia.

2. Loss of habitat is a major threat. Bandicoot homes are destroyed when we clear bushland, grassland and dense or prickly weeds. They even live in crops. Cars don’t kill bandicoots, drivers do. Bandicoots explore large territories during the night, which may require them to cross roads. Foxes are the greatest threat to our bandicoots. They have recently been introduced to Tasmania. On mainland Australia they were introduced in the 1870s. Since that time these efficient hunters have been responsible for the extinction of many small mammal species, including playing a major role in the near extinction of the Eastern Barred Bandicoot. Along with Tasmanian bettongs and eastern quolls, bandicoots are the most vulnerable marsupials to predation by foxes (the former have been extinct on the mainland for some time).

3. FOOD / DIET Conservation statusSome desert species of bandicoot are extinct and the remaining species are vulnerable. If their habitats change, they will become endangered. They are also killed by introduced species such as foxes and feral cats. Diet They search on the ground looking for insects, spiders, seeds, berries and other similar food. When looking for food they dig in the soil and rummage in the fallen leaves on the ground. They hold their food in their front paws to eat it.

4. Physical features Bandicoots are mostly solitary animals, which means they are generally on their own. They are marsupials about the size of a cat. They have a pointy snout, humped back and a thin tail. A female bandicoot has a backward facing pouch. This is so that when she is digging, she doesn't fill her pouch with soil.  There are about twenty kinds of bandicoot, including the Northern Brown, Long-nosed, Southern Brown, Eastern Barred and Western Barred bandicoots. The Western Barred bandicoot is now only found on a few islands in Shark Bay, Western Australia. The Eastern Barred bandicoot is now found only in Tasmania and in a few places in Victoria.

5. Life Cycle / Reproduction Marsupials are not pregnant for very long, so that when the young are born, they are very tiny and hardly developed at all. They move into their mother's pouch to complete their development. Unusually for marsupials, bandicoots in the womb are attached to it by cords, and after they are born, the young climb the cords to reach the mother's pouch. The young of the Northern Brown bandicoot and the Long-nosed bandicoot are in the womb for only twelve and a half days, the shortest time of any marsupial. Inside the pouch, the young drink milk from teats, as they grow and develop.

6. Bibliography http://www.bandicoot-books.com/bandicoot_information.html http://www.nationalparks.nsw.gov.au/npws.nsf/Content/BandicootsLong-nosed Bandicoots: http://wildlife-australia.com/lbandicoot.htm Victoria: Isoodon obesulus obesulus: Near Threatened (Department of Sustainability and Environment Threatened Species Advisory List 2003)