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The Western Barred Bandicoot (Perameles
bougainville)
The Western Barred Bandicoot, once quaintly
known as "Bougainville’s pouched-badger", was first
recorded on the voyage of the French ship Uranie to Shark Bay
in Western Australia
in 1817. They were collected on Peron
Peninsula and were
quite "common". At this time, they were widespread across Australia through the southern arid zone,
from the Liverpool Plains in New South Wales
to the north-west coast of Western
Australia. The last specimen recorded from the
Australian mainland was collected at Rawlinna in Western Australia in 1929. They have
probably been extinct on mainland Australia for at least 60
years; and so survived a mere 120 years after their discovery by Europeans.
The Western Barred Bandicoot is one of the long-nosed
bandicoots and is the smallest member of the bandicoot family. They are
more delicate than other species of bandicoot, with an adult weight to 300
grams. Their fur is long and soft and is a mottled greyish, yellow colour.
They are distinguished by two or three pale fawn-coloured bars across the
hind quarters.
Shaded area indicates former distribution of
the western barred bandicoot
Like other members of the bandicoot family,
the Western Barred Bandicoot is nocturnal, nesting each day under low
shrubs in a depression beneath dense litter. Their diet is predominantly
insectivorous, although they will also eat spiders, earthworms, berries,
seeds, roots and small herbaceous plants as they hunt and dig for their
food.
The bandicoots have a high reproductive
output, which makes them excellent prospects for reintroduction to the
mainland. The gestation period of the Western Barred Bandicoot is a mere
12.5 days (one of the shortest gestation periods recorded in mammals). Two
offspring are usually produced per litter, with new born young only 10 mm
in length and weighing about a quarter of a gram. Their breeding is
concentrated in the wetter winter and spring months, but they may also
breed opportunistically throughout the year when unseasonal rainfall
promotes good conditions.
The bandicoots have a backwards opening pouch
with eight nipples where young remain and suckle for approximately 45 to 60
days before venturing out into the world. The high number of nipples
relative to the number of young seems to be an adaptation to having many
litters in quick succession (a litter every 80 days). Pouch young of
successive litters are thought to alternate teats, as the teats that have
been suckled previously take approximately one month to return to a size
that newborn young are capable of attaching to. By about 70 to 80 days of
age the young become independent and disperse from their mother. The males
have a home range of up to 14 hectares, while females range over less than
6 hectares on Dorre
Island. While their
home ranges overlap, each individual has a central core area that is not
encroached by other bandicoots.
Researchers transferred Western Barred
Bandicoots from Dorre Island to the nearby conservation reserve of
Heirisson Prong at Shark
Bay in 1995, to
successfully re-establish the first mainland population and to provide a
more secure future for the species. The most successful reintroductions of
endangered mammals have been in areas where cats and foxes have been
controlled or eradicated, therefore predator control is a major priority
for any mainland reintroduction.
The reintroduction has been supported by the
combined efforts of a mining company (Shark Bay Salt Joint Venture),
the local community of Useless Loop, government departments (Environment Australia and Agriculture Western
Australia), and conservation organisations (Earthwatch and Australian Geographic). Other reintroductions
of this species are planned and if these populations prove successful, then
perhaps the status of the Western Barred Bandicoot may become sufficiently
secure for it to be removed from the list of endangered species.
Adapted from Nature Australia (1997) 25:20-21.
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