Brush Tailed Phascogale
Is a rat-sized arboreal carnivorous marsupial characterized by a tuft of black silky hairs on the terminal portion of its tail.
Body length is between 16 and 27 cm with a 16 to 24 cm tail.
Males, which can reach up to 310 grams (11 oz), are larger than females, normally weighing less than 210 g. The brush-tailed Phascogale has a widespread but fragmented distribution throughout all states of Australia, excluding Tasmania. As a result of habitat destruction and predation by the red fox and feral cat, they are believed to have disappeared from roughly half of their former range. The species is considered very vulnerable to localised extinction. Breeding occurs between June and August All males die before reaching one year of age, generally from stress-related diseases brought about by the energy expended in a bout of frenzied mating.