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You are here: Home / Animals / How did the Small Marsupial Bandicoot get its Name, What does it Mean, and Where does it Come From?

How did the Small Marsupial Bandicoot get its Name, What does it Mean, and Where does it Come From?

April 28, 2020 by Karen Hill

A bandicoot is a species of small marsupial omnivores that look very much like rats.

bandicoot in the grass at night

The word bandicoot is an anglicised form of the Telugu word pandi-kokku, which means pig-rat, and originally referred to the unrelated Indian Bandicoot Rat.

There are twenty-one different species of bandicoots which live in Australia and New Guinea, including the pig-footed bandicoot, the rabbit bandicoot, which is endangered, and the Ceram Island long-nosed bandicoot, which is thought to be extinct.

The embryos of bandicoots, unlike other marsupials, form a placenta-like organ

Too bad real bandicoots don’t come with multiple lives and a replay button.

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Filed Under: Animals

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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