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Body and head 50mm, grey-brown soft fur; small rounded ears; dark legs with white toes; tail 60mm smooth. Moved on rear legs in large bounds (pic #4) and seemed completely unperturbed by our presence.
Coastal national park; sand dunes next to ocean coast; tufted grasses; very few trees; sandy swamp nearby; much tangled and diverse scrub. Midday and very overcast. Moving between grassy tufts.
One of the endangered native mice Pseudomys spp.? It's movement, lack of fear and the fact that it was foraging in broad daylight seemed unusual. " dark legs with white toes " might be a clue
Spotted on Mar 12, 2011
Submitted on Mar 1, 2012
8 Comments
Ooh, I read up... poor little antechinus males!!! (PS I have no idea what this one is.)
Thanks all for your help. Ok we seem to agree it's not antechinus.
I have been reading about Aus mice and I'm not certain it's not one of the native rodents (so mice and antechinus may well have met after all)
The native mice seem to be even more endangered than antechinus.
And I thought moths were hard to distinguish - I might stick with identifying Aus pachyderms from now on.
Scary for the male of the species Argy! Even if it's "only" a mouse it's a great series of pictures.
Good thought about the convergent evolution martin. It should be noted also that appearance is about where similarities end.
For any who don't know already, please read about the sex life of the antechinus - it's sort of scary.
An Antechinus, being a (marsupial mammal) is more closely related to wombat than it is to this probable mouse (placental mammal), and we can hardly tell the difference. A mouse and Antechinus had NEVER met, so it's not mimicry, it's covergent evolution determined by their particular similar environmental niches.
It's pretty sure a mouse; my bet as well. Looks like a sort of wood mouse...the fur looks similar to the European one.
Oh well. I'll keep waiting to see a real one then. I had a problem with the face shape too. Gee they're similar though. The ordinary punter would notice any difference.
Nice close shot and good to have a non arthropod (note to self). Argy, I'm voting for a mouse. My guess is based on its shorter nose. I guess you couldn't check for a pouch?
http://www2b.abc.net.au/science/scribbly...