And the bush has friends to meet him, and their kindly voices greet him, In the murmur of the breezes and the river on its bars,
And he sees the vision splendid of the sunlit plains extended, And at night the wonderous glory of the everlasting stars.

Banjo Paterson (1889)

Wednesday, July 21, 2010

More Little Mammals

One of the small mammals that you often catch on fauna surveys, even in arid Australia, is the introduced House Mouse, but sometimes what looks like one isn't.



What's in the bag? A nice little Sandy Inland Mouse (Pseudomys hermannsburgensis). Long scientific name!

 


A cute fellow found across most central areas of arid Australia.

 


Australia had waves in colonisation by rats and mice from Asia, when sea levels dropped during ice ages. The first wave animals changed to become different looking specialists, but these later wave animals still really look like normal mice.

 


He's starting to get cheesed off (ha ha) by being in the sun.

 


Time to go back to his family and friends, that live in a complex underground burrow system.

1 comment:

Stuart Price said...

It's much cuter than a House Mouse that's for sure.......