Monitoring Country
Bilby
Vulnerable
The greater bilby is a nocturnal, native marsupial. It has soft grey fur and long rabbit-like ears. There used to be another species called the lesser bilby (Macrotis leucura) but it went extinct in the 1960s.
| Aboriginal Name | Language Group |
|---|---|
| Bilba | Ullaroi/Yuwaalaraay |
| Ninu | Pintupi/Pitjantjatjara |
| Mankarr | Martu |
Species Records
Use the + - Zoom controls to select an area
Where they are
What Bilbies look like
Bilbies are a medium-size marsupial with
soft grey and white fur
long hind (back) feet
a black tail with a fluffy white tip
long rabbit-like ears
They can sometimes be confused with rabbits, but bilbies have different coloured fur, longer ears pointed at the tips, a much longer tail, and a delicate, pointed snout.
Bilby (Macrotis lagotis). Credit: Howard Hughes/Australian Museum
Other signs of Biblies
Scat
Bilbies usually dig for their food, leaving behind holes about 10-25 cm deep. You can often find their scat in the dirt piles next to the holes. If you break open the scat, you can find the shiny remains of insects.
Bilby scats. Credit: Robert Brown-Cooper
Burrows
Bilby burrows are spiral shaped and can be up to 3 m long and 2 m deep. The burrows usually have a large circular opening with a pile of sand next to it.
Bilby burrow. Credit: Martin Dziminski, WA Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions via NESP
Tracks
Bilby tracks. Credit: Michael Hains
What Bilbies eat
Bilbies are omnivorous (eat plants and animals). They eat things like grubs, termites, spiders, seeds and bulbs.
Conservation Status
NSW - Extinct , NT - Vulnerable , Qld - Endangered, SA - Vulnerable, WA – Vulnerable
There is a two-way science recovery plan for the greater bilby. The recovery plan brings together Traditional Ecological Knowledge and scientific research to help people know what management and research is needed to best look after the Greater Bilby.
Bilbies have been successfully reintroduced to areas where they used to be found, including islands, feral-predator proof fenced areas and lands that are intensively managed for things like feral cats and fire.
Threats
Some of the key threats to the Bilby include:
Predation by Feral Cats, Foxes and Wild Dogs
Unhealthy Country or lost habitat caused by:
wrong-way fire
mining
land clearing
livestock and introduced herbivores like Rabbits, Cattle and Camels
You can monitor Bilbies to better understand:
Where Bilbies do and don’t live
How many Bilbies live on Country
How well management of Country and Bilbies is working
By using one or more the following methods, you can better understand Bilbies on your Country. If you monitor the same place at the same time every year, you can see if there are changes to Bilbies on Country.
Any time you do work that might disturb or interfere with native animals and vegetation, particularly threatened species, you need to check with the state authorities to see if you need any approvals, such as scientific licences or animal ethics committee permits.
Why are cage traps useful
Get a close up look: When animals are caught in a cage trap, you can learn more about that particular individual that you can’t learn from less invasive methods like camera monitoring. You can weigh and measure them, check if they are male or female, …
Cameras are one of the best ways to monitor bilbies if you know, or are fairly confident that, they are on your Country. Cameras can be set to automatically take photos or videos when an animal passes the camera. Bilbies are easily identifiable from camera images, and you can aim the cameras at their burrow entrances. You can make your monitoring more efficient and cost effective by monitoring multiple species (including native and introduced species) with this method.
You will need to buy good quality remote cameras, but not much training is needed for deploying cameras or identifying species in the images. Images can also be processed first with the use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools, which can be useful when you have large numbers of images.
Occupancy – the proportion of sites occupied by a species, and whether they are appearing or disappearing from sites over time
Habitat preferences – does the species only occur in particular habitats?
Detection frequency or activity – how often and when are they being detected in an area? This can also be used as an indicator of how large the population might be
Behaviour – what are they are doing in the photos? This is something that you might look at for cameras set up at burrow entrances to see things like what times they leave their burrows, how often they go in and out, or how long they spend digging.
Bilbies are generally nocturnal, so make sure the camera is set to take photos at night.
If there is an obvious burrow or path that Bilbies use, you can set up cameras to face it. Angle the camera down the path, so that you increase the amount of time the camera has to take pictures as Bilbies pass by.
Bilbies should easily trigger the camera sensors. You can use the standard camera trapping set up (height of 30 - 40 cm from ground) to monitor them.
Place cameras at least 500 metres apart.
Bilbies have been detected on cameras lured with universal bait (peanut butter and oats, with or without sardines), apple and sweet potato.
2 Ha Plot Surveys can be used to monitor bilbies on Country. This is a method where trackers search a 2 Hectare (Ha) area for all signs of animals, including tracks, scats, diggings and other signs. If signs of a species are found in a plot, its presence is recorded. This method doesn’t usually focus on a single species as you can often record signs of many species. This survey doesn’t need specialised equipment, but it is useful to have some tracking skills, particularly when trying to identify challenging signs like diggings.
2 Ha Plot Surveys can be a good method for monitoring bilbies, if you are on sandy Country, and if you can identify their tracks and scats. Identifying bilby tracks and scats is not as easy as identifying bilbies from camera images, but 2 Ha Plot Surveys don't need expensive equipment, and can be faster and easier to do.
Presence/absence – if and where bilbies live on Country
Occupancy - if enough plots are surveyed, the presence/absence data can be used to estimate occupancy. This type of modelling helps to work how many areas really have bilbies, even if they weren’t detected at every plot. This can be used as an indicator of how large the population might be and if is getting smaller/bigger over time
Activity - how many signs of bilbies were detected during the survey. This can be used as an indicator of how large the population might be
Population size – if enough fresh scat can be collected and sent off for genetic analysis, the information can be used in a capture-recapture analysis to estimate how many bilbies live on Country
bilby tracks can be difficult to tell apart from rabbits and mulgara
bilby scats are often longer than wide, cylindrical, and contain sand and shiny bits of insects
2 Ha Plot Surveys are most suitable for sandy Country, where tracks will easily show up
Primary sources
This landing page was developing using the following sources:
Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (2023). Recovery Plan for the Greater Bilby (Macrotis lagotis)
Threatened Species Scientific Committee (2016). Conservation Advice: Macrotis lagotis Greater Bilby.
C.J. Hogg et al. (2024). Extant and extinct bilby genomes combined with Indigenous knowledge improve conservation of a unique Australian marsupial. Nature Ecology & Evolution
Australian Museum (2024). Greater Bilby