The Bilby has bene offered as an alternative to the Easter bunny. What is the difference between the Bilby and Bandicoot?
Bilbies have the characteristic long bandicoot muzzle and very big ears that radiate heat. They are about 29–55 cm (11–22 in) long. Compared to bandicoots, they have a longer tail, bigger ears, and softer, silky fur. The size of their ears allows them to have better hearing. According to the Bilby Fund, “There is more to ‘why save bilbies’ than the fact that they look amazing, they have adorable ears and beautiful silky soft fur.
Firstly, bilby ancestors have been found as fossilised remains dating back 15 million years – which make them a very special species. They have been an intrinsic part of the landscape across 70% of the Australian mainland for all that time. From the time Europeans arrived, bilbies stretched from the Great Dividing range in the east to the Gascoyne coast in the west.
Yet in the last 100 years they have been pushed to the brink of extinction as a direct result of colonisation, change of land use, population growth, and introduced non-native species.
The bilby is also an animal at the heart of Australia’s First People’s culture and is a significant creature present in many dreamtime stories and cave art.
Secondly, bilbies are a scientific ‘flagship’ species. This means that their protection is even more important because their survival in turn increases the chances of 16 other threatened species and countless others who share the same habitats and threatening processes in the wild.
Bilbies are one of nature’s eco-engineers, they play an important part in the restoration of soil and rejuvenation of vegetation in arid Australia. They use their strong front paws to dig deep burrows which spiral down into the ground for roughly 2 metres.
