Role: Soil engineer
The Southern
Brown Bandicoot is an excellent digger which improves soil health and
helps plant germination. Its pregnancy lasts for just 14 days – the
shortest gestation of any mammal.
DESCRIPTION
Medium-sized,
ground dwelling native marsupial. Long pointed snout, small round
ears, a large rump and a short thick tail. Brown fur with streaks of
black, except on their belly which is creamy white.
HABITAT
Native vegetation
with a thick, often shrubby understorey; examples include dense
patches of bracken fern and yakkas which are at least knee high and
difficult to walk through.
THREATS
Vegetation
clearance, predation by foxes and cats.
DIET
Omnivorous diet
of invertebrates, fungi, plant roots, ferns, seeds and berries.
BEHAVIOUR
Nocturnal,
solitary marsupial. Southern brown bandicoots are important
dispersers of seeds and fungi. They sleep in a nest made from grasses
and other plant material, and at night emerge to feed.
