Society may rarely know the existence of Bandicoot or PigRat. However, the community in Papua and its surroundings must be very familiar with this animal.
The Bandicoot is a mammal of a transitional type between Northern Australia and New Guinea. This animal is often called A Pig Rat or Tikus Babi because of its small body like a mouse and its elongated muzzle similar to a pig. In addition, this animal has a unique leg because it has a shape like a kangaroo's leg. Bandicoot is a nocturnal omnivorous animal, it likes to look for food at night.
The average Bandicoot body weight is 400-2000 grams with a body length of 69-75cm. The distinctive feature of this animal is that it has a long snout to sniff food, has sharp claws to dig the ground while looking for food, and has legs like a kangaroo to jump far.
Bandicoot is scattered in the Papua, Papua New Guinea, dan Australia regions. There are eight types of Bandicoot species that live in Papua and two of them are endemic. The two species are the North Brown Bandicoot with the Latin name Isodoon Macrourus and Raffay Bandicoot with the Latin name Perorcytes Raffrayana. Distribution of Bandicoots in the Papua region is spread from the islands of Waigeo, Biak, and Yapen, to the north and east of Manokwari, Merauke, to the south of New Guinea Island with an altitude of 1,550 meters above sea level.
The Papua society, especially the farmers, really hates the Bandicoot because this animal often destroys cassava and corn plantations. Therefore, the farmers usually set a trap at night to catch Bandicoot. However, not a few people also hunt Bandicoot to eat its meat. According to research by Frandz Rumbiak Pawere and John Arnold Palulungan from the Faculty of Animal Husbandry, University of Papua in 2020, Bandicoot is a source of protein for the people in Papua and usually they consume 1-10 Bandicoots per day.
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