#yallara bilby

[notnights]

Over the past couple of months I've been drawing my bilby girl, Yallara as if she was in the Digital Circus because that's always fun design practice.

The little bird featured in some of these belongs too @artyfuldrawing

[ningauinerd]

The lesser bilby (Macrotis leucura), less degradingly known as the yallara by the Wangkangurru people, is one of Australia's many many obscure recently extinct mammals. It was last seen alive by western observers in 1931, although based on First Nations knowledge (and a skull found under an eagle's nest) it appears to certainly have survived at least into the 1960s.

(Image credit: Oldfield Thomas’ Catalogue of the Monotremes and Marsupials in the British Museum)

The yallara was smaller and less colourful than the living greater bilby (M. lagotis), hence its description of as the "lesser" of the two species, but what it lacked in stature it made up for in ferocity. Unlike its larger cousin, the yallara was reportedly very aggressive and feisty, with Hedley Finlayson (one of the few scientists to observe the species in life, and the last) writing that they: "...completely belied their delicate appearance by proving themselves fierce and intractable, and repulsed the most tactful attempts to handle them by repeated savage snapping bites and harsh hissing sounds, and one member of the party, who was persistent in his intentions, received a gash in the hand three quarters of an inch long from the canines of a male."

Although few observations of the species were made in life and much of their ecology remains a mystery, they may also have been more carnivorous than the living greater bilby. Investigations of stomach contents found large quantities of skin and fur from rodents, with only limited seeds and no insect fragments having been ingested. However, this information only comes from a small sample of individuals, so whether or not the yallara was the most predatory of all modern bandicoots will likely remain uncertain. They also differed in behaviour from greater bilbies by always blocking the entrance to their burrow after entering.

The species was only observed by Europeans in the harsh deserts of north-eastern South Australia and the south-east of the Northern Territory, but testimony from Aboriginal peoples indicates it also extended further west into the Great Sandy and Gibson Deserts of Western Australia. Being reported as common when last observed by Finlayson in the 1930s, its decline and extinction appears to have occurred entirely unobserved by western eyes, but it is likely that they were a victim of the usual troubles - invasive species and changing fire regimes.

[faunafocus]

Bilby

Bilbies are the only extant member of Thylacomyidae in the order Peramelemorphia, though their taxonomy has changed over the years. #FaunaFocus #Bilby #Bilbies

Bilbies are the only extant member of Thylacomyidae in the order Peramelemorphia, though their taxonomy has changed over the years. Bilbies are the only extant member of Thylacomyidae in the order Peramelemorphia after yallaras, or lesser bilbies (Macrotis leucura) became extinct. The placement of bilbies within the Peramelemorphia order has changed in recent years. Vaughan (1978) and Groves and…

[notnights]

Pin the tail on the Jax.

(Belated Easter Bilby fun.)

[notnights]

Some stuff of Yallara Bilby I’ve done over the past year or two.

Speaking of bilbies did you know you can donate to the Save the Bilby Fund and choose a Christmas gift of mealworms, locusts or potatoes for them? Consider donating to the little guys for Christmas!

[notnights]

Ya lar lar and some circus.

[notnights]

Playboy Bilby (ignore Jax)

[notnights]

Every donation given to the Save the Bilby fund in the remaining 17 hours will be doubled! Help these critters out if you can!

Thank you so much if you donated!

Here's my girl Yallara and some of my favorite bilby characters that I've also drawn these past few days.

[faunafocus]

Bilby

The bilby was once known as the "greater bilby", but is often referred to simply as the "bilby" since its closest relative, the yallara, or lesser bilby became extinct in the 1930's and 1960's. #FaunaFocus #Bilby #Bilbies

The bilby was once known as the “greater bilby”, but is often referred to simply as the “bilby” since its closest relative, the yallara, or lesser bilby became extinct in the 1930’s and 1960’s. The bilby was once known as the greater bilby, but is often referred to simply as the bilby since its closest relative, the yallara, or lesser bilby (Macrotis leucura) became extinct in the 1930’s and…

[0104-vikita]

SILLY LITTLE GUYS!

Gotta love them

Over the past couple of months I've been drawing my bilby girl, Yallara as if she was in the Digital Circus because that's always fun design practice.

The little bird featured in some of these belongs too @artyfuldrawing

[artyfuldrawing]

bilby and birb are the best duo, never separate them pls. 💚🙏

Over the past couple of months I've been drawing my bilby girl, Yallara as if she was in the Digital Circus because that's always fun design practice.

The little bird featured in some of these belongs too @artyfuldrawing