Bergbilchbeutler
| Bergbilchbeutler | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name of the genus | ||||||||||||
| Burramys | ||||||||||||
| Broom , 1896 | ||||||||||||
| Scientific name of the species | ||||||||||||
| Burramys parvus | ||||||||||||
| Broom, 1896 |
The Bergbilchbeutler ( Burramys parvus ) is a species of marsupial from the family of the Bilchbeutler (Burramyidae). For a long time the species was only known from fossil finds and was thought to be an extinct species before living animals were first found in 1966.
description
Bergbilchbeutler are small, mouse-like marsupials. Their dense fur is gray-brown in color, the underside is lighter. The long tail is hairless except for the base of the tail and can be used as a prehensile tail. The animals reach a head body length of 10 to 13 centimeters, a tail length of 13 to 16 centimeters and a weight of 30 to 60 grams.
distribution and habitat
Bergbilchbeutler live in the mountainous region in southeastern New South Wales in Kosciuszko National Park and in southern Victoria . B. around Mount Kosciuszko and in the Alpine National Park . Their habitat is bush-lined scree fields from 1,300 to 2,230 meters above sea level. The climate in their small habitat is cold and rainy, and snow is very common.
Way of life and food
The fact that Bergbilchbeutler have been able to remain undetected for so long is partly due to their shy and exclusively nocturnal lifestyle. They are social animals that often live together in groups outside of the mating season . The mutual warming when several animals sleep huddled together in a crevice is likely to be essential for survival in their cold habitat . Mutual grooming has also been observed.
During the winter months they repeatedly fall into a torpor , a cold rigidity that can last up to 20 days.
Bergbilchbeutler are omnivores whose food is partly seasonal. During the warmer months, they feed mainly on insects, especially Bogong butterflies ( Agrotis infusa ), which visit the habitat of these animals to breed every year. In autumn and winter they mainly eat seeds and berries, some of which they store as winter supplies . Bergbilchbeutler are therefore the only marsupials in which the creation of a winter supply is known.
Reproduction
Female Bergbilchbeutler have a well-developed pouch with four teats. The mating behavior and the rearing of the young are adapted to the short summers of the south-east Australian mountains. After a short gestation period of 13 to 16 days, up to eight young are born in spring (October or November). That means more newborns than teats, so only the faster, more developed boys can get a life-saving teat in the pouch, the others die. The young stay in the bag for three to four weeks and spend another four to five weeks in their mother's nest. During this time, the mother drives all other animals, especially the males, from their nest and develops territorial behavior. At around two months, the young are weaned and independent and have to leave their mother.
Bergbilchbeutler and people
At the end of the 19th century and in the 1950s, fossils were found in Southeast Australia that were identified as related animals to the already known sleeping baggers . In August 1966 an unknown species of marsupial was discovered in a ski hut in Victoria, which was soon recognized as identical to the fossil finds described. In the words of Australian paleontologist WDL Ride: “Every paleontologist's dream has come true. The dry bones of the fossil came together and were covered with tendons, muscles and skin. ”(Quoted from Nowak, own translation). As a result, many more of these animals were found and their behavior could also be studied.
The problem is that the habitat of the Bergbilchbeutler is located in an area that has been intensively developed for winter tourism since the 1950s. Ski slopes cut up their habitats, the trees necessary for food are felled. After disputes between tourism operators and nature conservationists, a number of protective measures were taken, including tunnels under ski slopes, the establishment of protected areas and offspring in human care. The range of the Bergbilchbeutler is only around 10 km 2 , according to estimates there are only around 2600 of these animals, the IUCN lists them as threatened.
Today the Bergbilchbeutler is no longer kept in Europe. The only European holder was Newchurch.
supporting documents
literature
- Ronald M. Nowak: Walker's Mammals of the World . Johns Hopkins University Press, 1999 ISBN 0-8018-5789-9
Web links
- Photo of a Bergbilchbeutler
- Entry to animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu (Engl.)
- Burramys parvus in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Australasian Marsupial & Monotreme Specialist Group, 1996. Retrieved on 10 May, 2006.