Southern Brown Bandicoot - Quenda
What does it look like?
The southern brown bandicoot or 'quenda' has yellowish brown or dark greyish, coarse hair on its back, tending to creamy white underneath. Its short tapered tail and the top of its feet are a darker brown. It is a stocky animal with small rounded ears and a longish conical snout. It is approximately 300mm long plus about 100mm of tail, and weighs 500 – 1500gm, with the males being slightly heavier than the females.
Where does it live?
The quenda was once found across most of south western and south eastern Australia with a small population on northern Cape York Peninsula. Although fairing better than many marsupials, the quenda now has only a patchy distribution across a reduced range since European settlement.
The quenda is found in wet or dry schlerophyll forest through to open woodland and scrubby vegetation on sandy soils. Dense undergrowth and low ground cover are important in providing cover for the quenda. A diverse fire history is also valuable to these small mammals as it provides a mosaic of dense refuges and highly productive food resources in regenerating areas.
The quenda's diet consists of earthworms and other invertebrates, as well as fungi and subterranean plant material, which it digs up using its powerful forearms and claws. It leaves characteristic conical holes which can sometimes be seen in suburban lawns and gardens. Being nocturnal, it spends its days in a nest constructed of grass and other plant material mixed with earth.
How does it breed?
The quenda breeds mostly between May and October, producing up to 3 litters of 2 to 4 young in a season. Like all bandicoots, they have a backwards pointing pouch that prevents it being filled with sand when digging, and have 8 teats. Young are weaned at bout 60-70 days and females can breed at only 3-4 months of age. This solitary animal lives to about 3 years in the wild, and can have a home range of up to 7 hectares, although if food supply is good, they maybe much smaller and overlap.
Any threats to its survival?
The quenda is not a threatened species in WA, but has a special ‘conservation dependent’ status. The main threats to its survival is the continued loss of habitat through urban expansion and clearing, and their susceptibility to predation and disturbance by feral predators (including domestic pets) in urban areas where they persist.
Maintenance plan submitted