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Long Nosed Bandicoot
Photo: C & D
Frith
Australia's Wet Tropics
Rainforest Life
Long Nosed Bandicoot: Perameles nasuta
- A carnivorous marsupial with a reverse pouch.
- Greyish-brown colour on the back, creamy white underside.
- Forefeet and the upper surface of the hind feet are also creamy white.
- Muzzle is long and pointed, much more so than in Short-Nosed Bandicoots.
Habitat:
- Days are spent in shallow nests which have been dug into the rainforest floor and
lined with grass and leaves they gather with its forelegs. The upper surface of the nest,
which is sometimes flattened and partly covered with soil, may be well concealed under
rainforest litter. When the nest is in use, its entrance is closed.
Diet:
- In searching for food, the bandicoot digs holes with its forefeet; these holes
are large enough to fit its snout underground.
- Whilst digging, the Long-Nosed Bandicoot moves about sniffing the ground and a
shrill, grunt-like sound often indicates the presence of food.
- These bandicoots feed on insects and foodstuffs found underground, in rotted logs
and rainforest floor.
Social Behaviour:
- These are solitary animals.
- Meetings between males and females are restricted to their mating seasons.
Viewing Opportunities:
- Will often be seen after dark at Chambers Wildlife Rainforest Lodge digging in
the rainforest floor.
- Commonly seen on Lake Eacham roadway illuminated by the car headlights.
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Additional Information:
This bandicoot is well known for digging holes in suburban lawns.
Its natural habitat ranges from rainforest to wet and dry woodland and areas of
little ground cover.
It is a solitary animal, and males and females are rarely in contact, except for
times of reproduction. Mating occurs at night, and breeding takes place throughout the
year. Some females begin to breed at only 5 months of age. The breeding season is
throughout the year.
Litter size is usually 2-3. The young are about 13mm long and weigh only 0.25g.
The pouch opens backwards so the journey to the nipples is rather short, but the young
stay connected to the placenta by a long umbilical cord until they have secured themselves
to nipples.
Growth is rapid –at about 40 days the first hairs emerge, at 45-50 days the
eyes open, and weaning occurs at about 60 days after birth. When the young are about 50
days old the mother may mate and produce another litter several days after the previous
one has been weaned.
Bandicoots in General:
- Bandicoots and Bilbies both belong to the same superfamily called
perameloids.
- Several species of bandicoots and bilbies have become rare or extinct since
European invasion, due to the destruction of their habitat or food supply.
- They are now protected by law, so it is an offence to harm them. Permits to trap
and remove them may be issued, but only in some special circumstances.
- They are solitary, strictly terrestrial, and all have quite long pointed heads
and compact bodies. The forelimbs are generally short and the hindlimbs resemble those of
macropods. They have a powerful thigh, an elongated foot, and its axis is continued into a
large clawed fourth toe. As in macropods, the second and third toes are joined together in
a condition known as syndactyly. They have a short tail with little or no function in
locomotion.
- Bandicoots are native marsupials that shelter during the day in bushland, along
creek beds and in other thickly grassed areas, emerging at night to search for food.
- Using its forelimbs, it digs a conical hole that it is able to explore with its
long snout when foraging for food. It does not simply dig anywhere – it uses its
excellent sense of smell and hearing to locate grubs and scarab beetles for example.
- These sorts of grubs can destroy gardens, so gardeners should acknowledge holes
in lawns dug by bandicoots, although the sight of the holes may be upsetting at first.
- Bandicoots are about 50cm overall. They have brown fur above and creamy white fur
on the belly.
- Their long jaws accommodate 4 to 5 pairs of upper incisors and 3 pairs of lower
incisors. They also have a pair of well-developed canines, followed by 3 pairs of upper
and lower premolars and 4 pairs of sharp-crowned upper and lower molars.
- Bandicoots mainly eat insects and other arthropods, supplemented by small
rodents, fruit and soft tubers.
- They make a nest of leaf litter and other debris raked up into an oval-shaped
pile about 45cm long. The Northern Brown Bandicoot and the Long-nosed Bandicoot (the two
species found in the Wet Tropics of Queensland) share the shortest gestation recorded in
mammals – 12 ½ days from conception to birth.
- Embryos of bandicoots make a connection with the uterine wall that is
structurally very similar to that of a placental mammal. The placenta however does not
develop into a large structure for the exchange of materials between the blood of the
mother and the embryo.
- Bandicoots usually have 8 nipples, but only carry about 4 in the pouch at a time.
This is because the nipple increases in size when it is in use – if a nipple has been
vacated recently, it is too large for a newborn animal to attach itself. This means that
two successive litters cannot comprise of more than 8 young (an average of 4 per litter).
- The young are tiny and not yet completely developed, but they must make their way
on their own to the pouch. Recent research has shown that the young develops from a
formless clump of cells to a mobile living animal in the 5 ½ before birth.
- Due to the absence of fossils, there is no one acceptable explanation for the
origin of the bandicoot.
- Sheep, cattle and rabbits have caused many problems with bandicoots as they
disturb the ground layer of vegetation, however, along with other native marsupials (eg
koalas, gliders and possums), some bandicoots have survived urbanisation to remain a
surprising feature of suburban life in several areas.
- Bandicoots play host to ticks and are often blamed for the presence of ticks and
tick plagues. To place all responsibility on bandicoots in unjustified though.
Additional Information:
Additional
Bandicoot Information
Long Nosed Bandicoots of the Lamington National Park.
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