Bilby
Bilby - Australia's Easter bunnyMacrotis lagotis
Among the grasslands of hot, dry western Queensland, the endangered greater
bilby lives far from the public interest surrounding its conservation.
The greater bilby is the only surviving bandicoot in arid Queensland. Several
other small mammals in Australia's arid and semi-arid inland have disappeared
or declined in the past 200 years.
As one of Queensland's 12 endangered mammals, the bilby is the subject of intense
research and conservation efforts. Its closest relative, the lesser bilby, is
extinct.
In recent years, attempts have been made to replace the Easter bunny with the
Easter bilby to make the public aware of this important Australian animal's
plight.
What does it look like?
Rabbit-sized, the bilby has delicate features with a long-pointed nose, silky
pale blue-grey fur with patches of tan, big ears and a crested black and white
tail.
Males weigh 1-2·5kg. Females are lighter and weigh 800g-1·1kg.
The bilby uses its strong forelimbs and thick claws to dig for food and build
burrows. It carries its tail stiffly and its ears are almost transparent.
These ears are not for decoration though, as they provide sharp hearing. This
feature, combined with a strong sense of smell, is important for the bilby when
looking for food.
But all its senses aren't that effective as the bilby can't see very well.
Where does it live?
Bilbies like to live in dry, hot areas among hummock and tussock grasslands
and acacia shrublands. They live in a range of habitats from clayey, rocky soils
with little ground cover to red ochre soil areas with acacia shrubland.
Queensland's largest remaining group of bilbies lives in one area west of the
Diamantina River in the State's far west. In the protected surrounds of Astrebla
Downs National Park, the bilbies inhabit Mitchell grass plains, sandstone ridges
and gibber plains. They probably used to live as far east as the western Darling
Downs in south-west Queensland.
In the rest of Australia, the bilby is restricted to parts of the Great Sandy,
Gibson and Tanami deserts in central Australia and the Pilbara and west Kimberley
in Western Australia. In South Australia, the bilby is extinct.
The bilby lives alone or in a pair.
A powerful digger, the bilby makes burrows up to three metres long and almost
two metres deep. It stays in its burrow during the day, looking for food well
after dark.
The burrow contains no nesting material and the entrance is often against a
termite mound or small shrub.
In the deserts, its home ranges are usually temporary and can quickly change
depending on where it can find food.
What does it eat?
A sharp sense of smell helps the bilby find food. A nocturnal animal, the bilby
emerges at night to feed on seeds, insects such as grasshoppers, beetles, spiders
and termites, fungi, and bulbs. It shelters in burrows during the day.
The bilby eats seeds by using its long, skinny tongue to lick them from the
ground. But this feeding style means the bilby eats a lot of sand. In fact,
20-90 per cent of its waste can be sand!
When looking for food, the bilby digs small holes up to 10 cm deep. These holes
are scattered over bilby feeding areas.
The bilby gets most of its water from its food rather than from drinking.
How does it breed?
The bilby breeds throughout the year.
Female bilbies have a backward-opening pouch with eight teats. One or two young
are usually carried in the pouch at a time, although four have been recorded
in the wild.
Young stay in the pouch for 80 days. Bilbies put their young into burrows for
about two weeks and return regularly to feed them.
Where is it seen?
You're not likely to see a bilby in the wild.
Instead, visit the David
Fleay Wildlife Park on the Gold Coast and enjoy the bilby displays.
Threats to survival
Bilbies were a common animal until the turn of the century, when bilby numbers reduced suddenly. Now endangered,the bilby's habitat still seems to be getting smaller and more fragmented.
In Queensland, the impact of predators such as foxes
and cats has
had the greatest effect on bilby numbers and continues to be the most serious
problem.
Deteriorated
habitat quality is another threat. The bilby's habitat has declined for
various reasons, including grazing and trampling by domestic and feral livestock,
competition for food from rabbits, and other factors such as introduced
predators (feral cats and foxes) and changed fire patterns.
If this animal is to survive, rabbits and predators must be controlled and fire must be used to maintain its habitat.
Protection
A known bilby colony west of the Diamantina River has been intensely studied and monitored by the Queensland Parks and Wildlife Service since 1988.
Teams of researchers have surveyed south-west Queensland from the air and the ground. Regular trapping programs are done to study the bilby's habits and numbers.
A large part of the bilby's Mitchell grassland habitat in the Channel Country is now included in Astrebla Downs National Park. This should ensure protection of this important bilby colony.
Bilbies are bred in captivity in Queensland, the Northern Territory, and South Australia. If necessary, these animals will be reintroduced into the wild to ensure the bilby's survival.
Future measures to protect the bilby could involve removing or controlling cattle and predators, using fire to create more favourable conditions for the bilby, reintroducing captive-bred bilbies to their former habitat, and gaining the co-operation of local landholders.
How can you help?
Please help the bilby by supporting endangered species research and caring for
all Australian wildlife. This will ensure our native animals survive where they
belong — in the bush!
Further information
National recovery plan for the Greater Bilby Macrotis lagotis
Last updated: 19 June 2007
