Southern Brown Bandicoot
Isoodon obesulus affinis
Meet the Southern Brown Bandicoot
Habitat & Range
Southern Brown Bandicoots occur in Tasmania and parts of southern mainland Australia. Tasmania is home to the subspecies Isoodon obesulus affinis.
They favour habitats with dense vegetation close to the ground, including heathland, scrub, woodland and forest. Thick ground cover provides important shelter from weather and predators while also providing suitable areas for nesting.
What's on the Menu?
Southern Brown Bandicoots are omnivores. Their diet includes insects, worms and other invertebrates as well as fungi, roots, seeds and other plant material.
They use their strong sense of smell to locate food beneath the ground and their front feet to dig characteristic cone-shaped holes in the soil.
Amazing Adaptations
A long, pointed snout and excellent sense of smell allow Southern Brown Bandicoots to locate insects, fungi and other foods hidden beneath soil and leaf litter.
Their powerful front feet and claws are well adapted for digging, while their compact bodies allow them to move through thick vegetation.
Like other bandicoots, females have a pouch that opens backwards. This helps prevent soil from entering the pouch while the mother is digging for food.
Did You Know?
A single bandicoot can make many small diggings while searching for food each night.
These diggings do more than uncover dinner — they help turn over and aerate the soil, mix organic material into the ground and create small places where water and seeds can collect.
Behaviour
Southern Brown Bandicoots are generally solitary and are most active from dusk through the night.
During the day they shelter in concealed nests made from grass, leaves and other vegetation. Their dense habitat can make them difficult to spot even when they are living nearby.
When active, they spend much of their time moving through the understorey and investigating the ground for food.
Conservation & Threats
Southern Brown Bandicoots depend on healthy areas of dense vegetation for shelter, nesting and feeding.
Habitat loss and fragmentation can reduce these important areas. Road collisions, introduced predators and attacks by domestic cats and dogs can also affect bandicoots.
Maintaining connected areas of native vegetation and healthy ground cover helps provide safe habitat for these small marsupials.
Southern Brown Bandicoots at Trowunna
Southern Brown Bandicoots are among the native species supported by Trowunna Wildlife Sanctuary's Managed Environmental Enclosures.
These carefully managed habitats support species including bandicoots, Eastern bettongs and Long-nosed potoroos as part of Trowunna's conservation, wildlife rehabilitation and education work.
Small mammals such as bandicoots play an important role in healthy Tasmanian ecosystems. By digging and disturbing the soil as they forage, they contribute to natural processes happening beneath our feet.
How You Can Help
- Keep cats contained and dogs under control around native wildlife.
- Slow down when driving, particularly between dusk and dawn.
- Protect dense native vegetation and ground cover where possible.
- Leave leaf litter and fallen logs in suitable areas to provide habitat for wildlife and their food.
- Never feed wild bandicoots.
- Support conservation programs protecting Tasmania's native mammals and habitats.
Wildlife Welfare Comes First
Please do not feed, touch or attempt to handle Trowunna's Southern Brown Bandicoots.
Bandicoots need quiet areas where they can rest and retreat from view. Please respect their space, keep noise to a minimum and always follow instructions from Trowunna's wildlife keepers.