What Colour is a Phascogale?

Recognisable by their distinctive tails – rust coloured at the top with a black and bushy end. The Red-tailed Phascogale is a carnivorous marsupial that lives off insects, spiders and small birds.

What does a Phascogale look like?

The Brush-tailed Phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa tapoatafa), also known as the Tuan, is a small, nocturnal, arboreal, carnivorous marsupial. It is a uniform deep grey on the head, back and flanks, light grey to pale cream underneath with large naked ears and a conspicuous, black ‘brushy’ tail.

Is the brush-tailed Phascogale endangered?

VulnerableBrush-tailed phascogale / Conservation status

What does a brush-tailed Phascogale eat?

Phascogales are very good hunters. They mostly eat large insects and spiders and flower nectar, but they also sometimes like to eat small birds and small mammals. They spend the daytime inside tree hollows. Mother’s will also leave their young in a nest inside the hollow at night while looking for food.

What is an Australian Phascogale?

The phascogales (members of the eponymous genus Phascogale), also known as wambengers or mousesacks, are carnivorous Australian marsupials of the family Dasyuridae.

What sound does a Phascogale make?

When disturbed brush-tailed phascogales emit a low hissing sound that acts as an alarm. When confronted they emit a series of chit-chit sounds. They also have been observed slapping their front paws on the ground and rattling their tails (Soderquist,1995).

Is a Phascogale a marsupial?

Phascogales are a marsupial (meaning they have a pouch for their young) and are part of the carnivorous (meat-eating) Dasyuridae family. In Nillumbik their closest relatives are Slender-tailed Dunnarts and Agile Antechinus.

How does a brush-tailed Phascogale move?

Due to predating on fowl, Brush-tailed phascogales were originally called “Vampire Marsupials”. Due to unusual foot structure, these animals can rotate their hind limbs up to 180 degrees. They are also known to hang upside down when feeding: they are likely to feel most comfortable when eating in this position.

What is another name for Phascogale?

Do phascogales eat chickens?

Brush-tailed phascogales are mostly carnivorous. They hunt and kill small mammals, birds, reptiles, insects, spiders, and centipedes. They have been know to kill and eat chickens, and they generally avoid eating carrion.

What does a brush tailed phascogale look like?

Brush-tailed Phascogale. Image: Jerry Alexander. The Brush-tailed Phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa tapoatafa), also known as the Tuan, is a small, nocturnal, arboreal, carnivorous marsupial. It is a uniform deep grey on the head, back and flanks, light grey to pale cream underneath with large naked ears and a conspicuous, black ‘brushy’ tail.

What is a brush tailed mammal called?

Species of mammal. The brush-tailed phascogale (Phascogale tapoatafa), also known by its Australian native name tuan, the common wambenger or the black-tailed phascogale, is a rat-sized arboreal carnivorous marsupial of the family Dasyuridae, characterized by a tuft of black silky hairs on the terminal portion of its tail.

When was the brush-tailed phascogale first described?

The brush-tailed phascogale was first described by F. Meyer in 1793; George Shaw published a revised description in 1800.

What are the Predators of the brush-tailed phascogale?

On the other hand, this phascogale is hunted by cats, foxes and other introduced predators, while feral cats and cane toads are a source of disease for this species. The IUCN Red List and other sources don’t provide the number of the Brush-tailed phascogale total population.