Bandicoot - Animals Town

Home

Animal Wallpaper

Animal Coloring Pages

Bandicoot

Type: mammal
Diet: herbivores and omnivores
Average lifespan:
Size: 40cm long with tail about 17cm. About the size of a large rabbit.
Weight: 260 - 655 g (9.3 - 23.4 oz).

Often confused with rodents, bandicoots are small, omnivorous marsupials. The Bandicoot is a small marsupial and almost every area of Australia has its species. Once abundant in the backyards of suburban homes, unfortunately like many other native mammals, many species have been declining in numbers for a variety of reasons.

Bandicoot video.

What does a Bandicoot eat?
Their diet consists mainly of insects, worms, plants, but they also eat lizards and some small mammals, such as mice. They dig little conical pits looking for beetle larvae. Whilst this habit makes them unpopular in suburban gardens because of the damage to the gardens, they provide a useful service by eating insects, snails and mice. They also feed on fruit and underground bulbs.

What does a Bandicoot look like?
The bandicoot ranges in length from about 6 to 22 in (15 to 56cm) and weighs under 2 lb (.9kg) depending on the species. Its fur is coarse and may be orange, greyish or brown in colour with soft fur underneath. In some species the fur is striped. Its head is long and narrow with a long snout, and they have sharp teeth.

How many types of Bandicoots are there?
There are about twenty kinds of bandicoot, including the Northern Brown, Long-nosed, Southern Brown, Eastern Barred and Western Barred bandicoots. The Western Barred bandicoot is now only found on a few islands in Shark Bay, Western Australia. The Eastern Barred bandicoot is now found only in Tasmania and in a few places in Victoria.

Where do Bandicoots live?
Bandicoots live on the ground in areas where there are low-growing plants. In some parts of Australia, they even visit people's gardens. Bandicoots live on the ground in areas where there are low-growing plants. In some parts of Australia, they even visit people's gardens.

How did the Bandicoot get its name?
A Telugu word in which "bandi" means "pig." "Coot" comes from an unknown "kokku," possibly the sound the bandicoot emits. Bandicoots look more like rats than pigs, but the Latin name compares the animal to a badger.