Report from the Presentation by Elish Roberts on the Southern Brown Bandicoot
Elish leads the bandicoot protection programme at Cranbourne Gardens where a colony of southern brown bandicoots is now established.
From the Bandicoot Brigade leaflet:
“Once a common presence throughout Melbourne and the Mornington Peninsula, the Southern Brown Bandicoots have been pushed to the outskirts of town due to habitat loss, cars and roads, and introduced predators such as foxes, cats and dogs. The couple of hundred living in and around Cranboune Gardens are Melbourne’s last remaining urban population of these essential creatures.”
There is also a colony of long nosed bandicoots in the Nepean area of the peninsula.Description: Isodon obosulas
They are marsupials with a back facing pouch, somewhere in size between a rat and a rabbit. They have big claws, a long nose, round ears, a big but, a long tail and little teeth. They almost hop. Pregnancy lasts between 12 to 14 days.
Diet includes insects, grubs and funghi including the underground microrhyzomes. They use their large front claws and long noses to dig for food and can be seen at Cranbourne at about 4pm, when the cafe shuts, looking for food scraps.
The cone shaped holes they dig help the ecosystem by turning over 3.9 tonnes of soil per year – bioturbation. This also decreases the fuel load of an area. They are bioengineers.Habitat is heathy woodland with dense tall grass. They scurry between clumps of grass and use it to make their nests of grass and leaf litter.
The 350m hectares of bushland at Cranbourne Gardens has a population of between 200 -300 bandicoots. Populations tend to go in boom or bust cycles depending on conditions.
At Cranbourne they are protected within the gardens by fencing and plumbing pipes inserted at the bottom of the fencing allow the bandicoots in and out of the area. The outside end of the pipe has a flap which the bandicoots can open allowing them back in but rats cant open the flap to get in. Small covered channels are also installed across nearby roads allowing them to cross the road safely. The bandicoots therefore have access to adjacent green corridors which they can populate.For more information contact Elish Roberts the outreach officer
E: rbg@rbg.vic,gov,au
