Bluff Downs Bandicoot
Scientific name: Perameles allinghamensis
Click to enlarge image
Bluff Downs Bandicoot, Perameles allinghamensis - Lost kingdom 2004
Image: A Musser
© A Musser
© A Musser
Fast Facts
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Classification
- Genus
- Perameles
- Species
- allinghamensis
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- Size Range
- Length (head and body): up to 19cm
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View Fossil Record
- Fossil Record
- Pliocene Epoch
(5 million years ago - 1.8 million years ago)
The Bluff Downs Bandicoot lived 4 million years ago, early Pliocene. It is one of the oldest known bandicoots of the kind known as peramelids. Peramelid bandicoots are still alive today.
Identification
The Bluff Downs Bandicoot looked for insects, fruit and soft roots to eat in the Pliocene woodlands. It probably dug holes using its front feet, searching for food in them with its long, pointed snout. Like other bandicoots it had long back feet.
Life cycle
The female Bluff Downs Bandicoot probably had a short pregnancy, like living bandicoots. Some living bandicoots are pregnant for just 12 days, which is the shortest pregnancy known for any mammal.
Fossil sites
Fossil teeth of the Bluff Downs Bandicoot were found at Bluff Downs in north-eastern Queensland.
