See more amazing
photos like this at the
Photo Ark Exhibition, which
runs until 1st October, at
Melbourne Zoo.
zoo.org.au/photoarkA
ustralia is a land of cute
animals on the verge of
extinction. Before us
stretches a line of unique
species, all demanding your
conservation attention. The
Tasmanian devil. The southern
hairy-nosed wombat. The Tiger
quoll. The brush-tailed rock
wallaby. The bilby.
That last one there, the bilby,
has much to answer for. Because
the bilby - now all but entrenched
as an Easter alternative to the
hated rabbit - is a member of the
order Peramelemorphia, along
with a bunch of little critters you
may dimly remember from old
kid’s books like the Muddle-
Headed Wombat.
Those critters are the
bandicoots, Australia’s answer
to the junkyard rat. Indeed, in
older books anyway, common
long-nosed bandicoots are often
cast as mischievous hoarders,
thieves, or in the case of Blinky
Bill, as henchmen.But we don’t hear much about
them these days, especially the
rather attractive and endangered
Eastern barred bandicoot.
More like a small rabbit than
a rat, this little creature roamed
the Victorian plains until foxes
arrived. Now, these bandicoots
are restricted to Tasmania and a
handful of conservation sites on
the mainland.
While the long-nosed
bandicoot is omnivorous - and
thus can thrive in rubbish tips -
the Eastern barred bandicoot is a
carnivore like the bilby. It uses
that distinctive nose to probe
into the soil for tasty crickets,
worms and the occasional beetle.
Apart from foxes, this
bandicoot must also compete
with rabbits. It has a super-short
gestation period of just 12 days,
which is great, and takes about
as long as a rabbit to reach sexual
maturity, but it usually only
produces two or three young,
versus six to 10 for rabbits.Average everything out, and
rabbits produce three female
offspring per month. Plus rabbits
eat grass, while the bandicoot
has to hunt for prey.
So despite that super-short
gestation period, this is why the
poor Eastern barred bandicoot
lost its grip on the mainland.
And like so many other
endangered marsupials, there are
sophisticated breeding programs
underway, and new populations
being established in Victoria. So
why have so many people
forgotten about the bandicoot?
A generation ago, the
bandicoot was on the
“kindergarten poster” list of
iconic Aussie animals, right there
with the koala, wombat, possum,
kangaroo, and even the numbat.
Somehow, though, it dropped off.
We blame the bilby. After all,
what chance does the bandicoot
have, while its biggest rival is
bribing its way into our hearts
with chocolate?OUR
FORGOTTEN
ICON
TRIVIA ANSWERS 1. Walked around the zoo looking at other animals. 2. The giraffe (from Greek for ”camel leopard”) 3. The wheelbarrow 4. The river red gum 5. Earth 6. The carrot 7. 2.6 (a gigasecond is a
billion seconds) 8. None 9. Mobile phones 10. 1 b itcoin Trivia Countdown – Name this war: World War I Name this illness: Parkinson’s disease Name this animal: Tur tle82 | SCIENCE ILLUSTRATEDSPECIES:
Eastern Barred
Bandicoot
SCIENTIFIC NAME:
Perameles gunnii
DISTRIBUTION: Central
and north-eastern
Tasmania, a few tiny
pockets in Victoria.
ICUN CONSERVATION
STATUS: VulnerableBIODIVERSITY MARSUPIAL MADNESSPOP CULTURE
RELEVANCE!
Actually, the
bandicoot did have a
brief moment of global
recognition... sort of.
When Sony launched
the original PlayStation
in 1994, it needed a
character to rival
Nintendo’s Mario and
Sega’s Sonic the
Hedgehog. Developer
Naughty Dog decided
to choose an “obscure”
animal on which to
base a character, and
thanks to a field guide
to Tasmanian
mammals, Crash
Bandicoot was born.
He was a huge success,
selling millions.
Recently, Crash
achieved the dream of
every fictional animal:
in 2014 a fossilised
tooth was assigned,
literally, the species
name Crash bandicoot.
This remains one of the
few species whose
binomial name is
neither Greek nor Latin.JOEL SARTORE / THE PHOTO ARK