Perameles gunni has a head and body length of up to 340 mm. The skull is flattened and the rostrum is very long. The head is elongated and slender, and it tapers to a pink nose. The Eastern Barred Bandicoot has a whiskered muzzle and large, prominent ears, similar to those of a rabbit. Its fur is greyish brown and very soft, while the torso and hindquarters bear the characteristic pale bars or stripes that give the marsupial its name. The Eastern Barred Bandicoot is easily distinguishable from the Brown Bandicoot because the Brown Bandicoot lacks stripes.
The underside of the animal is creamy white. The tail is around 100 mm long and is also creamy white. It is not prehensile. Strong claws are attached to the animals hands and feet. The dental formula for the Eastern Barred Bandicoot is 4/3, 1/1, 3/3, 4/4.
Females have a pouch.
Average mass: 640 g.
Other Physical Features: endothermic ; bilateral symmetry
Average mass: 766 g.
Average basal metabolic rate: 1.902 W.
Average lifespan
Status: captivity: 3.0 years.
The Eastern Barred Bandicoot is found in the grasslands and grassy woodland of Australia and Tasmania. Bandicoots habitat includes tall dense grass and shrub cover; most are found near a water supply. Many have adapted to living in tree shelter belts, bush blocks, and on farms where they can hide from predators. Many have found their way into gardens, cemetaries, and car dumps.
Terrestrial Biomes: savanna or grassland
Perameles gunnii, the Eastern Barred Bandicoot, is restricted to Australia and Tasmania. The species once lived between Melbourne and the South Australian border and in the north and east of Tasmania. Because of serious decline in their population, their number on the continent of Australia is now limited, but the survival rate in Tasmania is much higher.
Biogeographic Regions: australian (Native )
The Eastern Barred Bandicoot eats small vertebrates, a variety of invertebrates, and some vegetation. Their main diet, however, consists of invertebrates from the soil. They use their well developed sense of smell to locate food. They then use strong claws and their long slender nose to dig small conical holes in the ground from which their food is extracted. Food items include root-eating grubs, cockchafers, and corbies. They also feed on earthworms, beetles, and some plant material such as roots and berries. A study in Australia reported a high number of berries in the Eastern Barred Bandicoot's diet. Perameles gunnii is nocturnal. After dusk it emerges from its nest and immediately begins foraging for food.
The lifespan of the Eastern Barred Bandicoot is less than 3 years. Cats and dogs kill bandicoots, and may cause significant mortality in some populations. Cats carry the disease Toxoplasmosis, which can be transmitted to Eastern Barred Bandicoots and is often fatal. Molecular investigation indicates that the mainland and Tasmanian populations of the Eastern Barred Bandicoot are as distinct genetically as defined sub-species.
Perception Channels: tactile ; chemical
The wild population of Perameles gunnii remains critically endangered and is estimated at between 300 and 400 animals. The wild population of the Eastern Barred Bandicoot has declined due to grazing by Eastern Grey Kangaroos, introduction of predators, and extensive habitat alteration. This has occured over 99% of native grasslands in which the species formerly occured. The introduction of predators, particularly cats and foxes, is now a direct threat to all populations of bandicoots and bilbies. Use of pesticides has contributed to the decline in numbers. Accidents with motor vehicles also play a part. The current recovery team for the Eastern Barred Bandicoot comprises representatives from the Department of Natural Resources and Enviornment, Zoological Parks and Gardens Board of Victoria. This group oversees a field and a captive management group. This group has maintained up to 18 breeding pairs of bandicoots maintained in six sub-populations. The captive program has continued to be productive with positive growth rates and 95.6% of wild source gene diversity retained.
US Federal List: endangered
CITES: appendix i
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species: near threatened
There are very few to no negative affects on humans.
Perameles gunnii is in such danger of extiction now that the benefit to humans is slim to none. They do in fact eat beetles, grubs, and similar invertebrates that can potentially harm crops and fields
The reproductive rate for Perameles gunnii is very high. But the mortality rate is also extremely high, particularly among juveniles. Bandicoots are solitary animals and only mix with other bandicoots when breeding. In Tasmania, young are born between late May and December. Females may begin breeding around the age of 3 months. A female may produce as many as 3-4 litters during a breeding season. The common litter size is 1-4 young. This means that a female barred bandicoot has the reproducitve capacity of producing up to nearly 16 young in one breeding season. Young remain in the mother's pouch for about 55 days. The young generally remain with the mother in the nest for a week or two after they leave the pouch. This is the only time that one will find an Eastern Barred Bandicoot sharing its nest. The home range for males is approximately 100 acres ( 40 hectares ), and 75 acres ( 30 hectares ) for females. These territories do overlap.
Key Reproductive Features: gonochoric/gonochoristic/dioecious (sexes separate); sexual
Average birth mass: 0.25 g.
Average gestation period: 12 days.
Average number of offspring: 2.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (male)
Sex: male: 152 days.
Average age at sexual or reproductive maturity (female)
Sex: female: 91 days.
The eastern barred bandicoot (Perameles gunnii) is a nocturnal, rabbit-sized marsupial endemic to southeastern Australia, being native to the island of Tasmania and mainland Victoria. It is one of three surviving bandicoot species in the genus Perameles. It is distinguishable from its partially-sympatric congener – the long-nosed bandicoot – via three or four dark horizontal bars found on its rump.[2] In Tasmania, it is relatively abundant. The mainland population in Victoria is struggling and is subject to ongoing conservation endeavors.
The eastern barred bandicoot[3] weighs less than 2 kg (4.4 lb) and has a short tail and three to four whitish bars across the rump.[2] The eastern barred bandicoot has two separated populations, one on the mainland of Australia and one on the island of Tasmania. The Tasmanian form is somewhat larger than the mainland form as the average adult mass is 750 g in Victoria and 1,000 g in Tasmania.[4] It lives for just two to three years and is not gregarious.[2] Males occupy large home ranges compared to females and only consort with females for mating.
This species is nocturnal. It emerges from its nest at dusk to forage for a variety of invertebrates including crickets, beetles and earthworms. During the day it rests in a grass-lined nest. When foraging, it uses its long nose to probe deep into the soil and then digs eagerly when it locates food. Females have 8 nipples and can produce a maximum of 5 young in one litter with an average of 2 to 3 young. Gestation lasts just 12 days — this is one of the shortest gestation periods of any mammal. Young are weaned at 55 days and emerged juveniles remain dependent upon the mother and forage with her until day 86. Given ideal conditions, females can have up to five litters per year although reproduction becomes depressed in summer and ceases altogether in times of drought.[2]
The eastern barred bandicoot was once distributed across the basalt plains of southwest Victoria, and in Tasmania.[2] Due to predation by introduced foxes and cats, along with land-clearing for farming practices, the Victorian subspecies is critically endangered. Since 1989, eight reintroduction sites have been established across the bandicoot's former range. The conservation of eastern barred bandicoots in Victoria now depends upon the success of captive breeding and reintroduction programs. Keys to this conservation plan include maintaining an insurance population in captivity, conducting research to improve breeding and reintroduction success and increasing community awareness and support for this rare marsupial.[5]
A management plan, developed in 1987 and revised in 1989, recommended the first reintroduction of the eastern barred bandicoot in Victoria at Woodlands Historic Park, 20 km (12 mi) northwest of Melbourne. Animals were translocated from the last remaining free-ranging mainland population in Hamilton, western Victoria to captive breeding facilities at Woodlands to establish a population in 1988. The captive-bred offspring formed the basis for reintroductions into the Nature Reserve, known as the Back Paddock, a 400-ha section of the park with a predator-resistant fence to keep out feral predators.[6]
Populations at four sites are now extinct (Floating Islands Nature Reserve, Lanark, Cobra Killuc Wildlife Reserve and Lake Goldsmith Nature Reserve), functionally extinct at Woodlands Historic park, declining at Mooramong and increasing at Hamilton Community Parklands and Mount Rothwell. The last remaining wild population, which was once found along the Grange Burn (a creek) in Hamilton, has also been declared extinct. The estimated population size for the Victorian eastern barred bandicoot in 2008 was 150 individuals.[2]
Eastern barred bandicoots have been successfully released on Phillip Island, French Island and Churchill Island in Victoria's Westernport.[7][8]
On 15 September 2021, Victoria's Environment Minister Lily D'Ambrosio announced that the conservation status of the Victorian species has changed from "extinct in the wild" to "endangered", as its population had jumped from 150 to 1,500 over the course of thirteen years. This was the first time in Australia's history that such a change in conservation status had been made.[9]
The Tasmanian subspecies (P. g. gunni) is vulnerable to extinction.[10] This species is more widespread than its mainland cousin because Tasmania provides large areas of suitable habitat and because the island lacks the bandicoot's main predator, the red fox.[11]
In the state of Victoria, a recovery team oversees actions aimed at conserving the Victorian subspecies. Representatives of government agencies, NGOs and private conservation groups collaborate to develop and implement actions to improve the species' outlook. Groups include Conservation Volunteers, Zoos Victoria, Parks Victoria, Mount Rothwell Biodiversity Interpretation Centre, University of Melbourne, Conservation Enterprises Unlimited, and the National Trust of Australia (Victoria).
An effective recovery tactic currently in use is the exclusion of invasive predators from populations of threatened eastern barred bandicoots through the extensive use of conservation fences. Non-native predator species that are fenced out from endangered populations include feral cats and red foxes. Another important feature of conservation fences are that they restrict the spread of infectious diseases among the few remaining animals.[12]
The eastern barred bandicoot is most closely related to the other species of bandicoot in its genus, of which only two species are still extant today. These surviving relatives are the western barred bandicoot (Perameles bougainville) and the long-nosed bandicoot (Perameles nasuta). It is also closely related to the desert bandicoot of the same genus, but this species has become extinct. There are about 20 other bandicoots in the same family, Peramelidae. They share similar features of long pointed snouts, and small ears. The bandicoots are closely related to the bilbies, which share the same order, Peramelemorphia. These are all from the infraclass Marsupialia, shared of course with other species such as koalas and kangaroos, which means they diverged from placental mammals about 100 million years ago.
The species is the basis for the popular videogame character Crash Bandicoot,[13] and was selected from a number of Tasmanian mammals by creators Andy Gavin and Jason Rubin for its appeal and relative obscurity.[14]
{{cite journal}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link) The eastern barred bandicoot (Perameles gunnii) is a nocturnal, rabbit-sized marsupial endemic to southeastern Australia, being native to the island of Tasmania and mainland Victoria. It is one of three surviving bandicoot species in the genus Perameles. It is distinguishable from its partially-sympatric congener – the long-nosed bandicoot – via three or four dark horizontal bars found on its rump. In Tasmania, it is relatively abundant. The mainland population in Victoria is struggling and is subject to ongoing conservation endeavors.
