Rare Aussie creatures photographed coming to surface for 'super cool' battle
Rare images show ordinarily shy marsupials engaging in a fierce battle in the early morning hours. While it's common to see kangaroos boxing each other, there's a reason we don't often see greater bilbies engaging in the same behaviour. There aren't many of them.
The pictures were taken at a predator-proof sanctuary created by Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC), which keeps small mammals safe from invasive cats and foxes. Dr Alexandra Ross, an ecologist who studies greater bilby behaviour, said the animals are so sparsely populated, it's uncommon to see two together.
'I find it exciting to have two in one shot, and then to have them fighting is super cool… they're showing a behaviour that would be normal, but we don't see it because they're so rare,' she told Yahoo News.
Bilbies can share ranges and warrens, but large numbers don't live together, and they are known to be territorial. At least one of the bilbies is a male, and so Ross and the AWC team believe the images may capture a territorial dispute.
'The greater bilby used to cover around 80 per cent of Australia, but its range has declined by 80 per cent. They're super rare, but they're not supposed to be. They're supposed to be a common species,' she said.
Before Europeans arrived in Australia, it would have been common to hear the sounds of greater bilbies throughout Central Australia, extending across to Adelaide and Perth. Today, their range is limited to isolated pockets of Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
'These two bilbies fighting should be a common sight outside your bedroom window, but we have to go to all this effort now so they can exist,' Ross said.
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The footage was taken in the Northern Territory at Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary, a 261,501 hectare property that's home to 14 species threatened with extinction.
Because native marsupials evolved without any evolutionary recognition of cats or foxes, in the wild, those that can't quickly learn are quickly killed. Inside the sanctuary, there is some evidence that their wary behaviour changes because they don't have to be on the lookout for introduced predators.
'Once you've got the cats and foxes out, you can bring back the native species that used to be in the area, and then they do spectacularly well.
'They're meant to be here, so as soon as you give them a chance, they do great.'
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