Marsupial Mice and Tasmanian Devil Cats: Dasyuridae

Physical characteristics: The brush-tailed phascogale has gray colored fur on its back and white or creamy fur on the underside of its body. Its brush tail is black with long, 2-inch (5.5-centimeter) hairs. Its body is 5.8 to 10.3 inches (14.8 to 26.1 centimeters).

Geographic range: Brush-tailed phascogales live in coastal areas of Australia.

Habitat: These animals live in dry eucalyptus forests and woodlands with an open understory—not a lot of smaller plants growing under the tallest trees—in temperate and tropical areas of Australia.

Brush-tailed phascogales prefer Australia's eucalyptus forests for foraging and nesting sites. (Michael Morcombe/Bruce Coleman Inc. Reproduced by permission.)

Diet: Brush-tailed phascogales feed on nectar (sweet liquid produced by plant flowers), large insects, spiders, and small vertebrates, animals with a backbone. They tear the bark off of trees to look for food.

Behavior and reproduction: This animal spends much of its time up in trees, and is nocturnal, or active at night. Brush-tailed phascogales make their nests in tree holes or forks, and also mate there. Females give birth to about eight young, who are attached to her nipples, feeding, for about forty days. After that, they stay in the nest until they're five months old.

Brush-tailed phascogales and people: These animals occasionally eat poultry raised by humans, but they also eat mice and insects, which humans may appreciate.

Conservation status: The brush-tailed phascogale is not currently threatened. ∎