Will you see one out in the wild?
No, sorry, its too late! The Pig-footed bandicoot is already extinct.
Why is it extinct?
The cause of the extinction remains uncertain. Neither of the two most destructive introduced species, the fox and the rabbit, had arrived in south-west Western Australia at the time that the Pig-footed Bandicoot disappeared from that area.
But Feral cats were already common. This could be the explanation.
It is thought that the decline was caused by a double habitat change.
1) First, the end of many thousands of years of Aboriginal burning (the Aboriginals practiced a kind of safe controlled burning of small areas only).
Australia's Aboriginal population declined by around 90% during the 19th century, largely because of the introduction of European diseases, and the remaining Aboriginies were often no longer permitted to carry on their traditional land-management and hunting practices. The burning stopped and was replaced by less frequent 'out of control' wildfires which tended to destroy everything.
2) Second, following on the heels of the near-extermination of the Aboriginies, came the introduction of vast numbers of sheep and cattle, leading to significant changes in soil structure, plant growth, and food availability.
Diet
It is not easy to tell what it ate as scientists generally study animal dropping (faeces) to find out these things. Since the Pig-footed bandicoot is already extinct there are no fresh droppings to study.
From surviving eyewitness reports and analyses of gut contents, dentition, and gut structure of museum specimens, it appears that the Pig-footed Bandicoot was the most herbivorous of bandicoots: although captive specimens were fond of meat and Aborigines reported that it ate ants and termites, the bulk of the diet was almost certainly leaves, roots and grasses.
Predators
Its main enemy was the feral cat and also foxes (both are introduced species). Although it would have had natural predators such as the dingo and large raptors, it had adapted and developed a way of surviving.
Link to a website about the Pigfooted Bandicoot
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