Brush-tailed rabbit-rat
Conilurus penicillatus M: 135-227mm F: same
IN THE KIMBERLEY’S remote Mitchell Plateau the brush-tailed rabbit-rat is faring well – good news for a species declining elsewhere in its range across north-western Australia. It emerges after dark from eucalypt hollows, logs or pandanus crowns to feed on seeds and occasionally fruits, grasses, tree leaves and termites. Its future can’t be taken for granted because a close relative, the white-footed rabbit-rat, once found widely in south-eastern Australia, hasn’t been seen alive since 1862. Cats and habitat loss are blamed.