Meet the bilby, Australia's own 'Easter bunny'
The greater bilby, a threatened marsupial with rabbit-like ears, digs burrows that provide habitat for dozens of species, a new study says.
The greater bilby (Macrotis lagotis), also known as the rabbit-eared bandicoot, is a desert-dwelling creature that once occupied over 80 percent of the continent.
But due to decades of decline—driven largely by habitat loss and predation by cats, foxes, and other introduced species—bilbies now only exist in a handful of remote regions in Western Australia, Queensland, and the Northern Territory. The International Union for Conservation of Nature and the Australian government consider the animal vulnerable to extinction.
Australian conservation groups such as the Foundation for Rabbit-Free Australia and Save the Bilby Fund have encouraged public awareness of the species by promoting the Easter bilby as an alternative to the Easter bunny. (See “How the World
