bilby
Americannoun
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of bilby
First recorded in 1900–05; from Yuwaalaraay (an Australian Aboriginal language of northern New South Wales) bilbi
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
"In Australia, feral cats were most likely the principal cause of extinction of the pig-footed bandicoot, central hare-wallaby, desert bandicoot, lesser bilby and long-tailed hopping-mouse, amongst others."
From Salon ● Nov. 26, 2023
Later, analysis of DNA from the wound confirms Moseby’s suspicions: This bilby, a threatened species, was slain by a domestic cat.
From Science Magazine ● May 15, 2019
The native fauna are often easy prey because they haven’t evolved to recognize and dodge the invaders, and medium-size mammals like the bilby have fared worst.
From Science Magazine ● May 15, 2019
After those have been erected, locally extinct mammals like the greater bilby, burrowing bettong, Western quoll, and Western barred bandicoot, will be reintroduced.
From National Geographic ● Dec. 18, 2017
As the usually quite staid Washington Post pointed out, "This one in particular is from that amazing day where George was thrilled to meet his namesake bilby at a local zoo."
From The Guardian ● Jul. 11, 2014
From bilbies with their giant heat-releasing ears to great thorny devils - which use their spikes to channel water into their mouths - many have developed quirks which help them cope in the harsh environment.
From BBC ● Apr. 8, 2024
In one early test, “We actually chased wild bilbies and rubbed them with a dead cat” to see whether that would help them avoid the predators in the wild, Moseby recalls.
From Science Magazine ● May 15, 2019
Yet in as little as 18 months, the researchers noticed behavioral changes in the animals living with cats, which included bilbies and burrowing bettongs, a marsupial also known as a rat kangaroo.
From Science Magazine ● May 15, 2019
The fate of the tagged animals revealed the advantage of prior exposure to cats: Cats killed 71% of the naïve bilbies but just a third of the savvy animals.
From Science Magazine ● May 15, 2019
Both species became warier; cat-exposed bilbies, for example, grew slower to emerge from artificial burrows and tended to avoid unprotected areas after emerging.
From Science Magazine ● May 15, 2019
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
