Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L00432:reg:3:p4
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2023L00432
Segment Type: reg
Provision Reference: reg 3 (pt 4/14)
Character Range: 28765–31453

long in the wild (Southgate et al. 2005). Females start breeding at five months and males at eight months. Generation time is assumed to be less than two years (Southgate pers. comm. 2019) or four years (Woinarski et al. 2014).
Bilbies are omnivores that often dig for food, disturbing soil to a depth of 250 mm. Their diet consists of invertebrates such as larvae (including those of butterfly and moth), termites, ants, grasshoppers, spiders and beetles, and other items such as seeds, bulbs, and fungi (Burbidge et al. 1988; Gibson 2001; Navnith 2009; Southgate & Carthew 2006). Some of the key food resources (including food plants) are promoted by fire such as Yakirra australiense (Southgate 1990b; Southgate & Carthew 2006; Southgate & Carthew 2007; Southgate et al. 2007). Root-dwelling larvae are extracted from a wide range of plant species (Paltridge 2016; Southgate et al. 2018) some of which are intolerant of fire such as the curly-barked Acacia doreta (Vollies' Minni Ritchi).
Bilbies are highly mobile and can have large foraging ranges, although their home range in many areas is still unknown. Data from tracked wild animals in the Tanami showed that an adult female occasionally moved up to 1.5 km between burrows on consecutive days while an adult male used burrows that were 2.6 km apart (Southgate et al. 2007). At Watarrka National Park (NT) adult males were regularly recorded moving 2–3 km, and up to 5 km between burrows on consecutive days (Southgate et al. 2007). Movements of these distances are far greater than most other medium-sized mammals, including other bandicoots, indicating that bilbies are well adapted to the variability of resources in the arid regions (Southgate et al. 2007).
At Arid Recovery (SA) the mean female home range was 0.18 km2 and the mean male home range was 3.16 km2 over an 18 month period (Moseby & O'Donnell 2003). Bilbies have been recorded using up to 18 burrows concurrently over several months, and construct on average a new burrow every two and a half weeks (Moseby & O'Donnell 2003).
In Queensland, which has a different open-plains habitat to Western Australia and the Northern Territory, a study over a period of 4–6 weeks on unfenced populations of bilbies found the mean burrow range was 1.53 km2 for males and 0.3 km2 for females, and the mean home range was 5.11 km2 for males and 2.03 km2 for females (McRae 2004). The home range movement of bilby in some areas such as the Kimberley is not known.
Bilby burrows appear to be important refuges for a variety of other fauna such as goannas, echidnas and other small mammals (Read et al. 2008; Hofstede & Dziminski 2017).

3.5.1             Interactions with dingoes