Kangaroo Island Narrow-Footed Pouch Mouse
| Kangaroo Island Narrow-Footed Pouch Mouse | ||||||||||||
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| Systematics | ||||||||||||
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| Scientific name | ||||||||||||
| Sminthopsis aitkeni | ||||||||||||
| Kitchener , Stoddart & Henry, 1984 |
The kangaroo island pouch -footed mouse ( Sminthopsis aitkeni ) is a species of marsupial from the genus of the narrow-foot pouch mice . It occurs only on the Kangaroo Island off the south coast of Australia , where it inhabits forest and heather areas.
The fur of this pouch mouse is dark gray on the back and light gray on the stomach and face. It reaches a head body length of around 86 millimeters and a tail length of around 100 millimeters. The weight varies between 20 and 25 grams.
Little is known about the way of life. Presumably it feeds on insects and other small animals and reproduces in the dry season between September and January.
This species is the only mammal endemic to Kangaroo Island . Due to the destruction of its already small habitat, the kangaroo island pouch mouse is listed by the IUCN as " critically endangered " .
The devastating bush fires in the 2019/2020 season posed a serious threat to the fauna of Kangaroo Island, so that the extinction of this species is already feared.
literature
- P. Menkhorst, F. Knight: A Field Guide to the Mammals of Australia. Oxford Press, 2001, ISBN 0-19-550870-X , p. 68.
Web links
- Information on australianfauna.com
- Sminthopsis fuliginosus ssp. aitkeni inthe IUCN Red List of Threatened Species 2019.3. Listed by: Australasian Marsupial & Monotreme Specialist Group, 2008. Accessed January 7, 2020.
Individual evidence
- ↑ The Independent : Australia wildfires: Entire species may have been wiped out by inferno, conservationists say , January 6, 2020, accessed January 7, 2020