Easter Bilby Babies Born at Monarto Safari Park

Posted By : The Animal Facts Editorial Team

Date: April 15, 2022 5:47 pm

Twin greater bilbies have been born at Monarto Safari Park as part of conservation efforts for the threatened species

Photo Credit: Monarto Safari Park

Monarto Safari Park have welcomed the birth of twin greater bilbies. Their announcement comes ahead of Easter this weekend with many in Australia celebrating the Easter bilby.

The twins are a male and a female, which recently emerged from mum, Lisa's pouch to explore the wider world. As a marsupial a bilby will spend the first 3 months of its life in a pouch on its mother belly.

This is the first successful litter born to Lisa who unfortunately lost her previous joey in 2020. Their father is Jimtu who came to the zoo from Western Australia.

Species Management Officer, Jodi Buchecker, said, "“This is the first litter that we have sired from four-year-old, Jirntu, who came from Western Australia in 2020.

Monarto Safari Park have been contributing to the survival of the greater bilby as part of the National Recovery Team for over 25 years. Zoos SA’s work with the Greater Bilby National Recovery Team has involved captive breeding, maintenance of the species studbook, supervising research and contributing to recovery efforts.

Through breeding efforts at Monarto Safari Park over 200 bilbies have been born and 90 of these have been released to the wild.

Less than 9,000 bilbies remain in the wild with the species listed as vulnerable to extinction. They were once found across 70% of the Australian mainland but their range has been much reduced.

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“We’ve bred hundreds of bilbies at Monarto Safari Park but it has been a little while since our last litter. Every bilby born is very exciting, particularly for a native species that is threatened in the wild,” added Jodi.

“Once the joeys are a little bit older we will be able to determine what animals are needed where and if these little ones can be released back into the wild.

“Our work with bilbies has been a very exciting story for Monarto Safari Park with amazing breeding success and a large number of releases back into the wild.

“So it’s lovely to be able to welcome these two joeys to the ongoing conservation of the species.”

Over the Easter weekend Monarto Safari Park are running a contest to name the joeys with the winner receiving a basket of bilby goodies. Contestants can pick from a name of floral inspired names such as Wattle, Banksia, Bluegum, Fern and Pea (after the Sturt Desert Pea).

Learn more about Greater Bilbies here - Greater Bilby Fact File | The Animal Facts

Learn more about Monarto Safari Park on their website – Monarto Safari Park

Twin greater bilbies have been born at Monarto Safari Park as part of conservation efforts for the threatened species

Photo Credit: Monarto Safari Park