26/07/2026
We love our phascogales ♥
Do you know what this local critter is?? It's a Brush-tailed Phascogale! Weird name right? But what an awesome animal to learn more about!
🐾 What are phascogales?
They're small marsupials and they spend most of their time in the trees. They have strong claws on their feet that allow them to grip onto bark and easily climb up and down trees.
🐾 What do they look like?
Brush-tailed phascogales are mostly dark grey with a creamy white belly. They have large, black eye and a pointed face. Like their name explains, they have a long black, bushy tail.
🐾 Where do they live?
In the South-West, brush-tailed phascogales are found in Jarrah forests. They're also found up north in the Kimberley in woodlands and grasslands with Eucalyptus and Corymbia trees.
🐾 What's interesting about them?
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 even small mammals. The males only live for about a year and they stop eating at the end of their lives, focussing all their energy on mating and passing on their genes!
🐾 What are their movements over the course of a day?
They spend the daytime resting and sheltering inside tree hollows, and mainly feed at night when they're less vulnerable to predators. Mothers will leave their young in a nest inside the hollow at night while looking for food.
Find out more about our local wildlife at https://natureconservation.org.au/resources/
