SPECIES: Phascogale pirata — Northern Brush-tailed Phascogale
CLASSIFICATION: Vulnerable
The Brush-tailed Phascogale is a small nocturnal, carnivorous marsupial, comparable in size to a rat. The most distinguishing feature of this gorgeous creature is te brush on it's tail. Sadly, this creature has now disappeared from over half the land it previously inhabited. Males of the species often don't live to the age of one; their early death caused by, ahem, their frenzied mating behaviours. The Northern Brush-tailed Phascogale is a sub-species endemic to the NT. They dwell in the tall, open Eucalypt forests - nesting in hollows during the day and foraging on the ground or in trees by night. Current estimates of the population still in the wild is less than 2500 individuals. Threats to their survival include habitat destruction and cat and fox predation.
Photo: Brush-tailed Phascogale. Credit: Lochman Transparencies.