Bilby
Illustration copyright Sue Stranger, Australian Nature Conservation Society

Bilbys have a body length of 55cm and its tail is at a length of 29cm. Females weigh aproximatly 1kg where as males weigh twice that.

<Figuur>Bilbys have soft silky fur which is ash-greyand while their belly is a cream white. Near the body the tail is grey, around the middle it is black and on the tip is white.

They have long snouts and long slender tongues. They have 3 toes which are like kangaroo toes, that means the middle toe is much larger than the others.

Bilby's have poor vision, although their smell and hearing abilities are very good.

In the late 1800's and early 1900's Bilbys were very common. They live mainly in the southern half of Australia or in any dry areas. They live where there are few rabbits and foxes considering they're their main enemies.

Bilby's build spiral burrows up to 2 metres deep. These nocturnal animals may travel 5km away from their burrows as they search for food.

Bilbys are omnivorous which means they eat both plants and animals. They eat insects , insect larvae, bulbs, fruit and seeds.

They mainly live alone but they can live in groups of 2 to 4. Their number of babies range from 1 to 3 and continue to stay in their mothers pouch for 2.5 months.

It is unknown how long Bilbys live in the wild for, but in captivity Bilbys live for about 5 years.

Bilbys were hunted for their skins and poisoned by powerful baits. They were also hunted by foxes and competed for food with rabbits. Bilby's breed well in captivity. The bilby's cousin is the Lesser Bilby.

Melinda
(former student of Mr. Wayne Real)