The Bandicoot Superhighway project team is asking the local community to assist them in their search for southern brown bandicoots.

Landscapes Hills and Fleurieu Regional Ecologist Luke Price says the southern brown bandicoot is a threatened species and we are undertaking region-wide surveys to help determine where they still occur. 

Knowing where they are currently persisting will help with future assessments of the species’ conservation status and likewise help identify and manage threats to those populations.

“Southern brown bandicoots are the only species of bandicoot left in the Mount Lofty Ranges and Fleurieu Peninsula region and are nationally listed as Endangered under the federal government’s Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.” he says.

“The project team and hardworking volunteers are continuing to look for any signs of bandicoots in their local area, and while there has been a number of recent sightings in parts of the Adelaide Hills, we need the community’s help to see where else in the region they still occur. 

“We are particularly interested in sightings from the Fleurieu area where this species has been less commonly recorded.”

There are historical records of the species from as far south as Deep Creek National Park on the Fleurieu Peninsula to Para Wirra Conservation Park north of Adelaide. 

Bandicoots can be found in both remnant native bush areas and within more urban and peri-urban areas, where suitable habitat exists. 

They will use both dense native vegetation and non-native vegetation as habitat.

“Bandicoots are small marsupials that carry their young in a pouch. They grow to about the size of a rabbit, and are golden brown in colour,” Luke Price says. 

They can sometimes be confused with both native and exotic species of rats, however bandicoots have a tail that is shorter than their head and body length, and a

large rump, relative to their head size.” 

Landscapes Hills and Fleurieu and its Bandicoot Superhighway Project partners are asking the community to let them know where they have seen a bandicoot.

Anyone who has seen a bandicoot in the last five years is encouraged to submit their sighting details to the online Bandicoot Superhighway portal. 

The team is also particularly interested to know if you see a bandicoot over the next few months, to help plan upcoming wildlife camera surveys.

If you see a bandicoot, submit it the Bandicoot Superhighway portal via the website.

You don’t need a login to add a sighting. It would be helpful to include a photo if possible one as this will assist with confirmation of identification.

The Bandicoot Superhighway project is a partnership between the Hills and Fleurieu Landscape Board, Sturt Upper Reaches Landcare Group, Department for Environment and Water, Green Adelaide, University of Adelaide, Friends of Parks, Nature Conservation Society of SA and private landholders. 

This project is funded by the Foundation for National Parks & Wildlife and the federal government.