Last seen in 1926 it is believed that the Pig-Footed Bandicoot has gone extinct (personally, I am still holding out – what can I say, I am an optimist). Whether they have gone extinct or not, we are going to take a few minutes to learn all we can about these little marsupials.

Cool Facts About The Pig-Footed Bandicoot

• As mentioned above, the Pig-Footed Bandicoot is indeed a marsupial (those cute, little animals with pouches) so it can be found (or could have been found) on the wonderful continent of Australia. They were apparently quite abundant in southern Australia.

• This particular marsupial was known for using their sharp claws to dig holes before filling them in with twigs and leaves and using them as comfy nests

• Much like other animals on the brink of extinction it is the introduction of invasive species as well as habitat destruction that lead to the demise of the Pig-Footed Bandicoot – does anyone else find it sad that we never seem to learn from our past mistakes?

Not Like Any Other Bandicoot

Although the Pig-Footed Bandicoot was closely related with other long-nosed bandicoot species, the Pig-Footed variety lived a vegetarian lifestyle. At least this is the theory since this bandicoot had a caecum, which is designed to break down plant cellulose. They also differed from their bandicoot cousins by the way they ran. Unlike most animals, the Pig-Footed Bandicoot would use their forelegs to propel themselves while their hind legs simply dragged behind. As you can imagine, this wasn’t the most efficient method of travel and resulted in this bandicoot being quite slow (and probably not the most graceful runner).

The Folklore Legend

As I mentioned earlier, the Pig-Footed Bandicoot was last seen in 1921, however, there may be a growing community that believes this bandicoot still exists. For example, aboriginals in the area have supposedly witnessed this bandicoot in the 1950’s. In 2007, the conspiracy theorists (you know the type that keep spotting Big Foot and Nessie) are convinced that the Pig-Footed Bandicoot is still living. This comes from your typical folk-lore evidence including a photo with the photographer’s thumb covering most of it, a grainy video from someone getting hit with their own boomerang. The most interesting piece of evidence is apparently the sounds in the background of an AC/DC video, which some believe to be the mating call of the Pig-Footed Bandicoot.

Unfortunately, I am a little skeptical of this “evidence”, however, I hope that the Pig-Footed Bandicoot is still rocking out to AC/DC somewhere in the Australian deserts.