Black-tailed pouch marten
| Black-tailed pouch marten | ||||||||||||
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Black-tailed marten ( Dasyurus geoffroii ) |
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Dasyurus geoffroii | ||||||||||||
| Gould , 1841 |
The black-tailed bag marten or Western bag marten ( Dasyurus geoffroii ) is a species from the family of the robbery marten .
features
It reaches a head body length of 26 to 40 cm and a weight of 615 to 2185 g. The males are usually slightly larger and heavier than the females. The upper side is brown with the large white spots typical of the genus, the underside is cream-colored. The rear half of the bushy tail is black in color, with one or two white spots at the base in some individuals. The hind feet are five-pointed.
distribution
Originally, the black-tailed marten was spread across the entire interior of the continent from the west coast of Australia . After the continent was colonized by the Europeans, the range shrank sharply, and since the 1950s the species has only been found in the extreme southwest of the country.
habitat
Originally also distributed in desert areas, today's populations live in dry forest and scrublands.
Way of life
The western bag marten is mainly ground-living and only climbs trees in exceptional cases to forage or to escape predators. Although the species is primarily nocturnal, prey is also hunted during the day in poor weather conditions. The diet consists of small mammals, birds, reptiles and insects. The roaming areas are comparatively large, they can be more than 400 hectares in males.
literature
- Ronald Strahan: The Mammals of Australia. Australian Museum - Reed New Holland, Sydney 2000, ISBN 1-876334-01-0 .
Web links
- Dasyurus geoffroii in the endangered Red List species the IUCN 2006. Posted by: Australasian Marsupial & Monotreme Specialist Group, 1996. Retrieved on 11 May, 2006.