Sunday, March 16, 2008

 

Bandicoots

Bandicoots are mostly solitary animals, which means they are generally on their own. They are marsupials about the size of a cat. They have a pointy snout, humped back and a thin tail. A female bandicoot has a backward facing pouch. This is so that when she is digging, she doesn't fill her pouch with soil.
Bandicoots live on the ground in areas where there are low-growing plants. In some parts of Australia, they even visit people's gardens.
They search on the ground looking for insects,spiders, seeds, berries and other similar food. When looking for food they dig in the soil and rummage in the fallen leaves on the ground. They hold their food in their front paws to eat it.
Bandicoots are mostly active at night and in the day they generally shelter in nests that are piles of leaf litter scratched together. When moving fast they bound and gallop.
Marsupials are not pregnant for very long, so that when the young are born, they are very tiny and hardly developed at all. They move into their mother's pouch to complete their development. Unusually for marsupials, bandicoots in the womb are attached to it by cords, and after they are born, the young climb the cords to reach the mother's pouch. The young of the Northern Brown bandicoot and the Long-nosed bandicoot are in the womb for only twelve and a half days, the shortest time of any marsupial. Inside the pouch, the young drink milk from teats, as they grow and develop.

Tuesday, March 11, 2008

 

Redblack spiders

Redback spiders live in most parts of Australia. The female redback builds a sticky, tangled web in dry, sheltered places. She hides in a funnel-shaped part at the top of the web. Inside logs, under rubble and rubbish, among rocks and in sheds are places where redback spiders can be found. Male redbacks do not build webs.
Spiders are not insects, they are arachnids. They have 8 legs (insects have 6 legs).Female redback spiders have shiny black bodies with an orange or red stripe on the upper abdomen. A female's body is about the size of a large pea. Males are smaller and are brown. Their red markings are often pale. Redback spiders have long, thin legs.
Redback spiders are more common in warmer weather.
Redback spiders eat insects. Large female redbacks sometimes capture small lizards and will also steal food from the webs of other redback spiders.
The male redback spider hangs around near a female's web. He gets the female's attention by showing her his abdomen. This can be dangerous because if she mistakes him for prey she will squirt digestive juices onto him and try to eat him. Many males are eaten as they mate!

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