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RESEARCH ARTICLE
Contents Vol 46(1)

The reaction of wild-caught northern brown bandicoots (Isoodon macrourus) to predators

M. C. Edwards https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1561-1942 A B C * , J. M. Hoy https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6337-5761 B , S. I. FitzGibbon C and P. J. Murray A
+ Author Affiliations
- Author Affiliations

A School of Agriculture and Environmental Science, University of Southern Queensland, Toowoomba, Qld, Australia.

B Hidden Vale Research Station, The University of Queensland, Qld, Australia.

C School of Agriculture and Food Sciences, The University of Queensland, Qld, Australia.

* Correspondence to: meg.edwards@unisq.edu.au

Handling Editor: Ross Goldingay

Australian Mammalogy 46, AM23001 https://doi.org/10.1071/AM23001
Submitted: 6 January 2023  Accepted: 9 November 2023  Published: 4 December 2023

© 2024 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Australian Mammal Society.

Abstract

Australia’s mammals are facing devastating effects from introduced predators such as cats and foxes. It is hypothesised that this may be because Australian mammals do not recognise some predators and are naïve to the threat they pose. We tested how wild-caught northern brown bandicoots (Isoodon macrourus) reacted to a variety of predators and their cues in captivity. These cues were live predators, taxidermied predators and predator faeces. Bandicoots spent less time feeding and took longer to begin feeding in the presence of a live dog. However, they did not display a significant difference in behaviours in the presence of any other predator cue when compared with the baseline. This suggests that bandicoots may perceive live dogs as a threat, and that the use of taxidermied predators and predator faeces may not elicit avoidance behaviours in bandicoots. Bandicoots may need to be trained to recognise and respond appropriately to some predator cues to maximise their chance of survival.

Keywords: bandicoot, mammal extinction, marsupial, naivety, predator–prey, predator–prey interactions, prey naivety, south-east Queensland.

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