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Greater Bilby © Species Fact Sheet: Greater bilby © W W F , K L E I N & H U B E R T Greater bilby Macrotis lagotis The greater bilby is an iconic threatened marsupial that historically occurred across 70 per cent of continental Australia but has declined dramatically since European settlement. Now it is restricted to drier desert areas in the Northern Territory and Western Australia and to a small corner of south western Queensland and is being reintroduced to selected locations in South Australia and New South Wales. The species is culturally important to many Indigenous people, and was formerly a valuable food resource. Bilbies are about the size of a small cat and have soft, blue-grey fur with white under parts and a distinctive white-tipped tail. They have long, highly sensitive ears and a pointed snout. Their forelimbs have three clawed toes and two un-clawed toes that enable them to burrow effectively. Mature males tend to weigh double that of mature females and have longer canines and a noticeably enlarged forehead. Conservation status The World Conservation Union (IUCN) Redlist of Threatened Species: Vulnerable Australian Government - Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act 1999 : Vulnerable Did you know? By looking for residual hair from native mammals in the scats of cats and foxes it is possible to measure the impact • The greater bilby is the only surviving member of they are having on our native species. Recent research in the sub-family Thylacomyinae (family Peramelidae ). the Tanami Desert has shown bilby fur in roughly three per cent of the cat scats examined. It seems remaining bilby • In captivity, bilbies have been known to live up to populations in some desert areas are able to persist 10 years of age. alongside fairly high levels of foxes and cats, probably as a result of favourable fire regimes in the region. These • Despite their sharp sense of hearing and smell, regimes can create enough high-quality food resources so greater bilbies have relatively poor eyesight. bilbies do not need to spend long hours above ground looking for food. Distribution and habitat Competition with introduced herbivores Most bilbies live in sandy desert areas in spinifex ( Triodia Bilbies are forced to compete with introduced species such species) grasslands. They dig large burrows up to two as camels, cattle and rabbits. These species compete for metres deep in sandplain country, where they live either food resources as well as damaging the soils where singly or in pairs. They also seem to favour freshly burnt burrows are located. Camels occur throughout the range of country where there are more plentiful supplies of preferred bilbies whereas cattle are more restricted in their impact (in foods. According to the National Recovery Plan, bilbies live Queensland only). among three major vegetation types: Unsuitable fire regimes • Open tussock grassland (both grasses and forbs) Some of the vegetation making up a large portion of the growing on uplands and hills, greater bilby’s diet appears to rely heavily on the incidence of fire to regenerate. Large uncontrolled fires may eventually • Mulga woodland/shrubland (both pure mulga and reduce the type and abundance of food plants available to mixed stands of mulga/witchetty bush) growing on the bilby. ridges and rises, and Drought & climate change • Hummock grassland growing on sand plains and The greater bilby is only partly adapted to arid dunes, drainage systems, salt lake systems and environments and thus could be at risk of local extinctions other alluvial areas. during severe droughts. Changing weather conditions brought about by climate change also have the potential to Currently there are two distinct geographic areas occupied negatively affect the bilby’s food sources, further adding to by bilbies. One extends from the western deserts region the decline of populations. (Tanami, Great Sandy, Gibson) of the Northern Territory and Western Australia west to the Pilbara. The second is in the Conservation Action channel country of south west Queensland. There are many recovery projects in progress. These Ecology and life cycle include breeding bilbies for release into fenced areas or predator-free islands at Venus Bay and Roxby Downs in Bilbies forage mostly at night. They like to eat a mix of plant South Australia, Uluru-Kata Tjuta National Park in the food (bulbs and seeds) along with termites, ants, beetles, Northern Territory, Shark Bay and Dryandra Woodland in insect larvae, witchetty grubs and spiders, most of which Western Australia, and Currawinya in Queensland. they dig up with their strong front legs. One of the bilby’s favourite plant foods is the bush onion or yalka ( Cyperus Aboriginal people in the Gibson and Great Sandy Deserts in bulbosa ) that grows in desert sandplains after fires. The Western Australia and the Northern Territory’s Tanami bilby uses its long thin tongue to lick food from the ground, Desert are working alongside scientists and Land Council which results in up to 90 per cent of its waste being made staff to survey and monitor wild bilby populations. Western up of sand. Australia’s Department of Conservation and Land Management is also developing fox and cat baiting A bilby burrow does not appear to contain a nest chamber methods and running baiting trials in several bilby habitat or any nesting material; instead it is used mainly for shelter areas across the country. during daylight hours and intermittently at night for rest and refuge from predators and temperature extremes. Within its In addition the Australian Government recently launched home-range a single bilby may have over a dozen regularly National Bilby Day, which is held annually on the used burrows, some of these containing multiple en - second Sunday in September to raise awareness about the trances. plight of bilbies and other threatened species. The greater bilby appears to have a polygamous mating system where sexually mature males mate with multiple How you can help females. Females have a backward opening pouch with eight teats. A healthy female can produce four litters per • Contact the Save the Bilby team year with one to three young to a litter. Gestation takes around 14 days, then the young remain inside the pouch and donate your time (if you live in for approximately 75–80 days. After emerging from their southern Queensland) or to make a mother’s pouch the young remain in the burrow for about financial contribution at two weeks while the adults return regularly to feed them. www.savethebilbyfund.com Threats • Protect remnant bush in your Predation community or on your land to help Feral cats and foxes, wild dogs and dingos are known to provide habitat for all our native animals, prey on both young and adult bilbies. The risk of predation including the bilby is thought to be greater following large wildfire events when bilbies have to range further from home burrows to search for food. • Support National Bilby Day WWF-Australia GPO Box 528 Sydney NSW 2001 Tel: 1800 032 551 wwf.org.au © 1986 Panda symbol WWF. ® (trademark words, e.g. “WWF”, “panda”, or “living planet”) is/are WWF Registered Trademark/s..
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