sign in sign up
<<
Home , Desert bandicoot

Finding out bout Desert by Andrew Burbidge and Phillip uller Western Australian Wildlife Research Centre

& Phil Fuller and Aboriginal informant Mi cky Robinson at Tjirrkali, Gibson Desert. Mr Fuller is holding a Oalgyte skin. Photo: R. Southgate

Until quite recently surprisingly little was known about the Research Centre started vertebrate mammals of the interior of Western . Because of the surveys in and the inaccessibility of the region there were few systematic attempts to Government document the fauna of central Australia and by the time four-wheel appointed biologists to study drive vehicles became available it appeared that many species had endangered species there. either become extremely rare or were extinct. It soon became apparent that many That we knew anything about the the region, obtaining much of the species which Finlayson found mammals of the deserts in past times information and help from them. to be abundant and widespread were was due largely to the efforts of one Finlayson's studies were concentrated now rare or extinct. The species most person, H . H. Finlayson of Adelaide. in northern South Australia but he affected were those of intermediate Prior to his work our knowledge was also recorded information from size between the large kangaroos and confined to a few scattered records Western Australia and the Northern the small native mice, dunnarts and from explorers and missionaries and Territory. His unequalled knowledge bats. Recent analyses of the decline the only extensive scientific study, of the distribution and status of of mammals in Western Australia by that of the Horn Scientific central Australian mammals was the authors and N. L. McKenzie have Expedition to Central Australia, summarized in a scientific paper shown that declines and which took place in 1895. published in 1961. As well as in mammals are confined to species distributional data, this paper also with adult body weights between 55g Finlayson's expeditions to central gave a variety of Aboriginal names and 5kg. Australia from 1931 to 1935 are for the mammals of the region. graphically described in his famous Why did this catastrophic decline book 'The Red Centre'. He travelled Following Finlayson's work little occur? In order to answer this with camels collecting and recording research was done in the question it is first necessary to know mammals and had a close working deserts until the 1970s when the something of the history of the relationship with the Aborigines of Western Australian Wildlife decline: when did the various species

Swans Vol. 14 No. 1 1984 9 disappear and what changes took place in the environment at that time? The only way to find this out was to repeat Finlayson's technique of asking the Aborigines. We started this study in 1977 in the Warburton area. One of us, Phillip Fuller, knew several Aborigines from Wiluna and Laverton areas so we took a Laverton man with us to Warburton to introduce us to people there. During 1977 we visited a number of Aborigines. We showed them photographs and drawings of a variety of and we also had the benefit of knowing the Aboriginal names which H. H. Finlayson had recorded from adjacent areas to the east. This work taught us three things . .A Spinifex plains in the Gibson Desert Nature Reserve. Photo: A. A. Burbidge

T Western Barred . A close relative of the Desert Bandicoot which once· had a wide distribution in the arid interior but is now thought to be extinct. Photo: A. G. Wells Firstly, the knowledge of middle­ Mammals' is similar. These authors Desert Bandicoot- aged and elderly Aboriginal people apparently ignored H. H. Finlayson's eremiana about wildlife is astounding. This statements that it occurred in north­ Few Europeans have seen a live was, perhaps, not unexpected since western South Australia and south­ Desert Bandicoot. The last museum Aboriginal people lived as hunters western Northern Territory. Our specimen was collected in 1931 at and gatherers and depended on their work has confirmed this and revealed Gahnda Rockhole in the north­ ability to locate animals for food. an even wider distribution including western Great Victoria Desert and the However, it goes further than this: we much of the Gibson Desert. As with species is presumed to be extinct. The were told many details about the all mammals, different names are used Desert Bandicoot is well known to biology of the animals, - what they for the same by people who Aborigines and some of their names eat, where they breed, how many speak the different dialects of the for it are Walilya, Kililpi, Yinmi, young they have, and so on. Western Desert language. However, Tjura and Maljurkura. a person who speaks a particular Secondly, desert Aborigines have dialect may also know the names We were told it lived in sandy a very close relationship with the from two or three other dialects used spinifex country and spent the day in animals of their country. Animals are nearby. Some of the names for the a nest, which was in heaped up leaf seen as part of the land. They are a Brush-tailed Bettong are Putujuru, litter or under a spinifex clump, often most important part of Aboriginal Karpitji and Yalkamarri. at the end of a short burrow. It ate mythology and culture and are of , and grubs and had two great significance in their beliefs. In the desert the Brush-tailed young at a time. Aborigines captured Thirdly, many Aborigines have Bettong lived in sandy spinifex the animal by tracking it to its nest difficulty in relating to pictures of country. It built a grass-lined nest in and then jumping on the nest and animals. Subsequent to the 1977 a spinifex hummock and would often grabbing the occupant. Apparently it work we have, where possible, used run into a hollow log when chased. survived until the late 1930s or 1940s. "puppet" skins of actual animals to Woylies in the south-west of the State show people rather than build a grass-lined nest under a fallen Lesser Stick-nest Rat-Leporillus photographs. shrub and have also been found in apicalis hollow logs. We were told by one Visitors to outback caves are often Some of our recent work has been group of people from the northern confronted with large structures of carried out in collaboration with Dr Gibson Desert that the Putujuru sticks and stones welded together Ken Johnson of the Northern made a short burrow under a clump with a tar-like substance. The Territory Conservation Commission of spinifex in the same way as Maia structures are especially common in and Mr Ric Southgate, a biologist do. (Maia is the Rufous Hare­ "breakaway" caves in the Gibson employed under a World Wildlife wallaby, Lagorchestes hirsutus.) This Desert but have been found as far Fund grant to study the Dalgyte or behaviour has not been reported west as Tallering Peak, Yuna and Mt Bilby (SWANS Vol 13, No. 1, 15-17). before. According to our informants Stirling. These structures were built Our understanding of the this species survived in the desert until by large native rodents called Stick­ disappearance of many desert the mid-1930s. nest Rats. Two species are known - mammals is now much greater, and .a lot of new information about the y Sandplains and dunes in the Gibson Desert Nature Reserve. Wallabies and were various animals has been recorded. once abundant in this habitat. Photo: A. A. Burbidge An example of this work has been described already by J. A. Friend, P. J. Fuller and J. A. Davis in SW ANS Vol 12, No 3, pp 21-26. Some other highlights of this work are discussed below.

Brush-tailed Bettong or Woylie - Bettongia penicillata. Most modern treatments of this small wallaby describe its former distribution as a southern one, including western New South Wales, north-western Victoria, southern South Australia and the south-west of Western Australia. Even the distribution given in the latest authoritative publication 'The Complete Book of Australian

Swans Vol. 14 No. 1 1984 11 y Brush-tailed Bettong. Photographed in the south-west, this species once extended through much of the deserts. Photo: A. G. Wells.

the Greater (Leporillus conditor) and with on plains where few trees can be grandfather had told him they once the Lesser (Leporillus apicalis). Both found. As a general rule, they occurred in his country. He species are thought to be extinct on frequent the country inhabited by the accurately described their nests, even the mainland, but, fortunately, the black oak (Casuarina). They can live though he had never seen one and Greater Stick-nest Rat still occurs on without water, but at times, build so had learnt about them perhaps 50 to Franklin Island, South Australia. near a watercourse as to have their 60 years ago. structures swept away by floods. Older Aborigines from the central Their flesh is very good eating" (Giles Kuluwarri deserts know Stick-nest Rats well. 1889, Vo! I, pp. 57 and 58). One of the most surprising results Although we are not sure which of our work has been to find out species they were describing, Today this type of stick-nest can about a mammal previously excavation of the nests has revealed not be found and most Aborigines do unknown to scientists. Several groups skeletal remains of the Lesser Stick­ not remember seeing them. However of people asked us why we did not nest Rat. Some Western Desert we did meet one old man from the have a skin of the Kuluwarri or language names for Stick-nest Rats Cavenagh Range who remembers Kulkuma. It was described as being are Tjuwalpi, Arrutju, Yininma, such nests, which we believe were a with soft, long fur, and Tjurulpa, Punuwuru, Tanpinka, made by the Greater Stick-nest Rat. of a similar size to or slightly smaller Intjurrka and Kutungu. If this is so then it would appear that than the Burrowing Bettong, the Greater Stick-nest rat disappeared When the explorer Ernest Giles Bettongia lesueur. We were told it before the Lesser. We were told that passed through central Australia in inhabited sand dune country with a in most areas stick-nest rats 1872 and 1873 he reported stick-nests spinifex () dominated disappeared a long time ago but some in scrub and open country. "In these vegetation and that it ate grass. A of our informants remember seeing scrubs are met nests with twigs and feature described by several people them about 40 years ago. We were sticks to the height of four feet, the was that it had long hair on its feet also told that they ate grass seeds. circumference being fifteen to which helped it leave indistinct twenty_ The sticks are all lengths up Evidence that stick-nest rats were tracks. Some people said it was very to three feet, and up to an inch in declining before Europeans entered quiet and some people said it was diameter. Inside are chambers and central Australia came from one old deaf because they could creep up to galleries, while in the ground man from Papunya, Northern its nest in a spinifex clump and underneath are tunnels, which are Territory. When we asked him about capture it. All people agreed that it carried to some distance from their the animal, giving a name we knew was good "kuka" (meat). It was citadel. They occur in many parts of from further south-west, he said he generally agreed that it had Australia, and are occasionally met had never seen one but his disappeared during the 1940s.

12 Swans Vol. 14 No. 1 1984 We have no idea what this animal Northern Territory and believed it Warburton Region, Western was. We do know of two wallabies was applied to a bandicoot but was Australia. Records of the Western which might have occurred in the not sure which species. Australian Museum, Vo! 8, 57-73. area and which we did not have in Finlayson, H. H . (1935). "The Red Our deductions about the reasons our skin collection. One, the Central Centre". (Angus and Robertson: for the decline in desert mammals will Hare-wallaby, Lagorchestes Sydney.) be discussed in a future issue of asomatus, is known to science from SWANS. Finlayson, H . H . (1961). On central only a skull collected near Lake Australian mammals. Part IV. Mackay, N. T., in 1931. The other, ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS The distribution and status of the Broad-faced Potoroo, was last We would like to express our central Australian species. collected in the south-west in 1870s thanks to the Aboriginal people at the Records of the South Australian but probably had a wider distribution many communities visited. Their Museum, Vo! 14, 141-191. since fossil remains have been found friendly and warm welcome was at all Friend, J . A., Fuller, P. J. and Davis, at North West Cape. On the other times greatly appreciated. Without J. A. (1983). The Numbat in hand, it is possible that the Kuluwarri their co-operation and deep interest central Australia. SWANS, Vo! has never been seen by scientists, and the work could not have been carried 12, No 3, 21-26. became extinct before it could be out. Giles, Ernest (1889). "Australia Twice recorded or studied. Our thanks are also extended to the Traversed". (Sampson, Low, It could possibly have been a many advisers at these communities Marston, Searle and Rivington: bandicoot because while most people for their hospitality and help. London.) said it had one young at a time, some Strahan, R. (Ed.) (1983), "The said it had two. H. H . Finlayson FURTHER READING Complete Book of Australian recorded the name "Kulwarri" from Burbidge, A. A. and Fuller, P. J. Mammals". (Angus and the Daly Waters areas of the (1979) Mammals of the Robertson Publishers: Sydney.)

T Phil Fuller with Aboriginal elders and the chairman at Blackstone. W.A. The man on the right is holding a skin of the Western Native-cat and the man in the foreground is holding a Burrowing Bettong. Photo: R. Southgate.

Swans Vol. 14 No. 1 1984 13