Author Koh Lin ◦
The mouse has been in my head lately… although this may be because I have been seeing them qute often… either dead or alive…
The following was only recently, as I walking east into town. The main road was on my right and the back fenceline of the houses on my left. The walkway was uneven, lifted by the trunks and roots of the river red gum and eucalypt trees. At one point, where a river red gum had grown and lifted the concrete paving, there were three deceased mice around the base of the tree. On close inspection, they looked like the commonly known House Mouse. I was unsure why they were deceased, possibly the cold (the temperature was in the minus over-night), or possibly mice bait. They looked a bit flattened, possibly having been walked on by pedestrians or by a cyclist.
Here in Central Australia, there are other species of mice, even those more commonly known as rats. One of the great places to see them up close is the local attraction, the Alice Springs Desert Park.
Following is the nocturnal Spinifex Hopping Mouse (Notomys alexis) that can be found throughout the arid regions of Central Australia and Western Australia. It actually is a sweet looking rodent, with large eyes and ears, big back feet and long tufted tails. They move with a hopping and galloping gait.
As their common name implies, they are found mainly in arid spiny spinifex regions, although they are also found in Acacia shrubland, Eucalypt woodland and tussock grassland (especially when there is a population explosion, after good rainfall).
I also have a small painting hanging on my wall of a Desert Hopping Mouse by the artist Gwen James.
There is also the Plains Mouse (Pseudomys australis) that I have observed in the Nocturnal House at the Alice Springs Desert Park.
Of course take care that you do not mistake the Yellow-Footed Antechinus, as it is sometimes known as the Broad-footed Marsupial Mice.
And just for fun… not all mouse are mice 😀 the Red-headed Mouse Spider
See the blog Marsupial Mouse.
