Bilbies

Charleville is home to the largest bilby breeding program in Queensland and where you can see these endangered little marsupials digging their way back from the brink of extinction.

Bilbies are believed to have inhabited Australia for over 15 million years and once were found across 70% of Australia’s landmass.

At the Charleville Bilby Experience, you will unearth more about why bilbies are so important to the Australian landscape, how the breeding program is working and view them in our specially designed nocturnal house as they go about their daily bilby business.

To book call 07 4656 8359 or visit www.experiencecharleville.com.au

Did you know?

Murweh Shire Council proudly supports the Save the Bilby Fund.

To find out more go to www.savethebilbyfund.org.au

Six fun Bilby facts

1. Bilbies can sleep on their heads. 2. ‘Macrotis’ means big-eared in Greek and bilby ears are big! They can be as much as 66% of the body length of the bilby, providing an easy point of differentiation between bilbies and other marsupials. These ears are super sensitive. 3. The lesser bilby became extinct in the 1950s; the greater bilby survives but remains endangered in Queensland and extinct in New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.

4. Bilbies are omnivores, meaning they eat almost everything, including insects and plants. They rarely need water making them superbly adapted to Australia’s harsh, dry outback. 5. Bilbies have one of the shortest pregnancies of any marsupial on earth and can have up to four litters of young per year. 6. Bilby pouches face backwards so they don’t fill up with sand and soil as they diligently dig burrows. It is estimated a bilby can move 1.5 tonnes of earth per kilogram of body weight per year.