ANATOMY AND PHYSIOLOGY
The basic anatomy and physiology of bandicoots and the bilby are presented in Lynch (2008). Noteworthy anatomical characteristics of this group are that they are the only marsupials that lack clavicles and possess an ossified patella (Fig.
41.1) (Vogelnest and Allan 2015). The physiological strategies of the golden bandicoot (Isoodon aura- tus), a species occupying an extreme arid-zone habitat, have been further elucidated. Like the bilby, one adaptive strategy utilised by the golden bandicoot is tolerance of a labile body temperature. Its mean body temperature can range from 31.5°C at an ambient temperature of 10°C to 38.5°C at an ambient temperature of 40°C (Larcombe et al. 2008). By allowing their body temperature to increase, arid zone bandicoots and the bilby increase their passive loss of heat to the environment without loss of water through evaporative mechanisms. Similarly, their basal metabolic rates are relatively low compared with temperate zone bandicoots, reducing their metabolic heat generation and energy demands in a resource-poor habitat. Interestingly, another Isoodon species, the northern brown bandicoot (I. macrourus), which occupies subtropical habitats, has a greater capacity to utilise strategies of labile body temperature and metabolic rate than the western barred bandicoot (Perameles bougainville), highlighting the importance of phylogeny as an important predictor of physiological adaptations compared with habitat (Larcombe et al. 2008).2.
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