Fat-Tailed Dunnart

Fat-tailed Dunnart

Sminthopsis crassicaudata

months, individuals will nest together to keep warm while sleeping. This species has been known to share nests with other species such as the common house mouse. Males and females have large home ranges that change throughout the year, and overlap with ranges of other individuals. Males are not territorial; however females may defend the area around their nesting site when they have older young. Distribution & Habitat Fat-tailed dunnarts occupy a variety of open habitats in Southern and Central Australia, including open woodland, low shrublands and arid shrublands. Populations can also be found living in areas of agricultural land such as unimproved pasture. Image 1 Fat-tailed Dunnart This species is fairly robust, being able to survive from the Source: Alan Henderson, Minibeast Wildlife moist conditions on the southern coast up to the arid centre of Australia. Figure 1 shows the current distribution of fat-tailed Description dunnarts in Victoria. The are also found in New South Wales, Head & Body: 60-90mm Tail: 45-70cm Weight: 10-20g South Australia, Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. They are one of the most widely The fat-tailed dunnart ( Sminthopsis crassicaudata ) is a small distributed dunnart species. relative of quolls and Tasmanian devils. At a glance, it is somewhat similar to a mouse in appearance. It is a carnivorous marsupial, with a diet made up mostly of invertebrates. Small vertebrates like frogs and lizards rarely make up part of their diet. This dunnart has large eyes and ears, and a pointed snout, with a thick tail in healthy individuals. Most of the upper body is fawn to brownish grey in colour, with darker patches around the eyes and head. Some individuals have white crescent- shaped patches around the ears. The underside and the legs are usually light grey to white in colour. When food is plentiful, fat is stored in the tail for a short period Figure 1 Distribution records of Fat-tailed Dunnarts in Victoria of time, giving the tail its swollen appearance. This helps the Source: Victorian Biodiversity Atlas 2012 individual survive periods of time when food is in short supply. Tails generally appear thinner in the winter when food is Conservation Status scarcer. If food is very scarce, usually in the cooler months, Fat-tailed dunnarts are listed as ‘near threatened’ under the dunnarts may enter a deep temporary sleep known as torpor. Department of Sustainability and Environment’s Advisory List The fat-tailed dunnart is completely nocturnal, finding small of Threatened Vertebrate Fauna in Victoria 2007 and listed as dark places to hide and sleep during the day. In the cooler ‘least concern’ under the IUCN Red List.

Fat-tailed Dunnart

What can you do? If you live in an area that may have dunnarts, there are a few things you can do to help protect them: • Leave habitat on your property as natural as possible; leave logs and rocks, and avoid clearing large areas of leaf litter • If you have a pet cat, either keep it indoors at night or construct an outdoor cat run. This will prevent the Image 2 Fat-tailed Dunnart found in a more temperate climate cat from killing small mammals like the dunnart Source: Dept. Sustainability & Environment, Victoria • Carry out fox, feral cat and rabbit control on your Life History & Ecology property. This will help alleviate predation pressure and competition for resources Breeding occurs between July and February, and some • If you discover small mouse-sized mammals around females can produce 2 litters during this time. Adult fat-tailed your property around or after dusk, try to identify the dunnarts aren’t monogamous, having multiple partners over species. It might be a dunnart instead of a mouse! their short lifetime of about 15 months for males, and 18 months for females. Females construct nests under logs, rocks, or in deep cracks in the ground, made out of dried plant material. Most individuals nest alone during mating season. Usually 8 to 10 young are born about 13 days after mating. The young attach firmly to the 8 to 10 teats that the female has in her well-developed pouch. They leave her pouch permanently approximately 60 days after birth, staying in the nest while the mother forages for food. The young are weaned from their mother after approximately 70 days; however by this time on average only 5 young have survived. The young reach sexual maturity at 4-5 months of Image 3 Fat-tailed Dunnart in a sandy environment Source: Simon Cook, University of Ballarat age, however females don’t breed within the first year of birth. Mothers do not provide further care to their young once they can survive on their own. Similar Species The fat-tailed dunnart’s home range overlaps with the Threats and Decline distribution of other dunnart species, including the common The threats facing the fat-tailed dunnart are common to most dunnart ( Sminthopsis murina ), stripe-faced dunnart of Australia’s small mammals. These include: (Sminthopsis macroura ) little long-tailed dunnart (Sminthopsis dolichura ) and the Julia creek dunnart ( Sminthopsis douglasi ). • Loss of habitat • Competition from pest animals More Information • Predation by feral animals such as cats and foxes Contact: Richard Hill, Senior Biodiversity officer, DSE It is also possible that people are mistaking dunnarts for mice Phone: (03) 5554 2302 and are setting traps for them Email: [email protected]

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