Known for its swift movements and acrobatic climbing ability, the Agile Antechinus is a mouse-like marsupial. It prefers dry forests, and comes out at dusk to busily hunt all night, fossicking in leaf litter or climbing trees, searching under bark for large beetles, small lizards, spiders, cockroaches, insect larvae, flowers and fruit. They are capable of killing and eating house mice.

Up to twenty males and females share communal nests among dry leaves, in tree hollows or logs on the ground. Females also build ‘female only’ nests. When the six to ten young are weaned the mother leaves them in their own nursery nest. They have very short lives. Males die after mating, and most females die after weaning the young in their first year.

Size: 98mm, tail 92mm

Illustration: Mark Trinham