BRUSH-TAILED PHASCOGALE

The Brush-tailed Phascogale is a tree-dwelling marsupial carnivore, and belongs to the family Dasyuridae. It has a black bottlebrush like tail, with hairs on the tail reaching up to 40 mm in length. Its underbelly is a pale cream, and above, they have a uniform grey color. Their large ears are naked. They possess long, sharp claws and a gripping hind foot.  The head and body length of an adult Phascogale ranges from 180 mm to 230 mm. Tail length falls between 175 mm and 210 mm. Their weight varies from 175 to 310 grams, with females being slightly smaller than males.

Breeding occurs in winter, competition is fierce, with several males potentially following a female and sniffing at her cloaca. Courtship is almost non-existent, but copulation can last for several hours. The female is known to doze off during this process 🙂

Due to competition and effort, the male is left susceptible to stress-related diseases, and in the wild, all males die shortly after the breeding season, similar to the Antechinus.

The Phascogale is the largest mammal known to die after its first breeding season.

The female does not have a pouch and give birth to more young than her 8 nipples can accommodate, so not all young survive.

During gestation, an area of soft tissue covered by sparse long hairs will expand around the nipples, and the young once attached, will stay attached to the nipples for 40 days. Hanging on to mum is of utmost importance during this time, should one fall it is lost.

After 40 days, the young are left in the nest while the mother forages for food at night.

The nest is typically located in a tree hollow (or in some cases, someone’s wall due to habitat loss) and is lined with leaves and shredded bark.

The young will remain in the nest until they are almost weaned at 5 months of age and will continue to use the maternal nest until the following breeding season. Females will then disperse when sexually mature, while, as we have already learned, males do not survive past the breeding season.

Their habitat is variable, but their preference is open dry sclerophyll forest with little ground cover and an annual rainfall of 500-2000mm, at altitudes of up to 600 meters.

Their diet primarily consists of spiders, centipedes, small vertebrates, and occasionally small domestic chickens. It also drinks nectar from flowering trees.

Brush-tailed phascogales face several threats, including habitat loss due to urban development and bushfires, as well as predation by introduced species like foxes and cats. As a result, they are considered vulnerable or endangered.

Their range is primarily in South-western and South-eastern Australia, including parts of Western Australia, South Australia, Victoria, and New South Wales.