White-footed Dunnart
Encyclopedia
The White Footed Dunnart (Sminthopsis leucopus) is a marsupial
Marsupial
Marsupials are an infraclass of mammals, characterized by giving birth to relatively undeveloped young. Close to 70% of the 334 extant species occur in Australia, New Guinea, and nearby islands, with the remaining 100 found in the Americas, primarily in South America, but with thirteen in Central...

 that occurs of Tasmania
Tasmania
Tasmania is an Australian island and state. It is south of the continent, separated by Bass Strait. The state includes the island of Tasmania—the 26th largest island in the world—and the surrounding islands. The state has a population of 507,626 , of whom almost half reside in the greater Hobart...

 and Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

. It occurs along the coast and in inner Gippsland
Gippsland
Gippsland is a large rural region in Victoria, Australia. It begins immediately east of the suburbs of Melbourne and stretches to the New South Wales border, lying between the Great Dividing Range to the north and Bass Strait to the south...

 and Alpine
Alpine climate
Alpine climate is the average weather for a region above the tree line. This climate is also referred to as mountain climate or highland climate....

 areas up to 400 metres near Narbethong. The length from snout to tail being 140-200 mm of which head to anus is 70-110 mm and tail 70-90 mm long and with a weight of 19-27 g.

Habitat

The average rainfall of its habitat is between 600-1000mm per year. Unlike the Fat-tailed Dunnart
Fat-tailed Dunnart
The Fat Tailed Dunnart is a species of mouse-like marsupial of the Dasyuridae family, the family includes the Little Red Kaluta, quolls, and the Tasmanian Devil. It has an average body length of 60–90 mm with a tail of 45–70 mm. Ear length is 14–16 mm...

, this species requires forest and woodland cover of more than 50% of any square metre of heath understory or mid-story plant species. Other habitats include coastal tussock grasslands, sedgeland and wet heath. This dunnart
Dunnart
Dunnarts are furry narrow-footed marsupials the size of a mouse, members of the genus Sminthopsis. They are mainly insectivorous. A male dunnart's Y chromosome has only 4 genes, making it the smallest known mammalian Y chromosome....

 has an individual range of about 120 square metres for both sexes, although this varies greatly among males, with some males acquiring territories of up to 1200 square metres. Male territories often overlap those of females.

Breeding and social organisation

The White Footed Dunnarts mate in summer.The female White Footed Dunnart will give birth in September or October, and up to ten joeys may be delivered. The White Footed Dunnart will shortly die after the litter is born.After eight weeks old,the young will exit their mothers pouch, continue nursing for a month, then disperse.

Diet

The feeding habit of this 20-30 gram species is similar to that of other dasyurids; it is an opportunistic feeder. Diet consists of invertebrates and reptiles of between 1 and 18 mm in length.

External links

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