The Easter Bilby -

The Rabbits Rival





Bunny or Bilby ?

Although all the cultural conditioning of the many famous bunnies exist in Australia, we do not think too fondly of the dear little critters. We may cringe to see one squashed on the road and may not approve of animal testing but when an animal has been a primary cause in the extinction of native flora and fauna, a cause of major land degradation and a financial burden to the country, we just dont think that the rabbit makes a good role model to represent Easter.

Easter is the time to celebrate new life and although the rabbits certainly represent new life, (a female as young as 6 months can produce up to 50 young a year) thats not the kind of life Easter is in celebration of. The Easter Bunny may now be in decline due to a movement that set out to change the look of the supermarket shelves, but more importantly, the attitudes of the Australian Pshyce. Australia has recieved a new Easter mascot, the Bilby.

The greater bilby Macrotis lagotisis a small mammel whose populations and potential habitats have been severly depleted due to direct competition of rabbits and foxes. There is presumed to be only several hundred left in the wild and predicted to become extinct in the wild. The lesser bilby Macrotis leucra is presumed extinct(Hoser, R. 1991). The bilby resembles the rabbit in only two ways, it has large ears and digs burrows. The one significant difference is that the bilbly's population and habitat has suffered from a sharp decline. This is largely to the rabbit, foxes and farming which have either destroyed the bilby or its habitat. Let us hope that this new mascot of life may benefit, not just by populating the supermarket shelves, but by an awareness of Australians that may help the Bilby raise its own population and save it from extinction.


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