Gerard Krefft, who collected eight specimens near the junction of the Murray and Darling rivers in 1857, took a drawing of a specimen with him to show to Aborigines, to help explain that this was the animal he was anxious to procure. Unfortunately the only drawing he could obtain was of a specimen that had lost its tail, and his Aboriginal helpers brought him any number of common bandicoots with their tails screwed out, before finally arriving with two living pig-footed bandicoots. Krefft, who was on short rations at the time, studied them for some time before he was forced to kill them. He recorded that ‘they are very good eating, and I am sorry to say that my appetite more than once overruled my love for science; but 24 hours upon "pig face" (Mesembryanthemum) will damp the ardour of any naturalist.’
