Alice Springs Desert Park

ASDP Home | Fauna | Flora | Nature Theatre | Nocturnal House

The most widespread of all hopping mice, the Spinifex Hopping Mouse (Notomys alexis) is found throughout the arid regions of Central Australia and Western Australia.

With their large eyes and ears, big back feet and long tufted tails, these mice move with a hopping and galloping gait.

The Spinifex Hopping Mice are nocturnal, preferring to stay hidden during the heat of the day. They can survive without drinking, as their kidneys absorb every drop of water from their waste. They have solid urine!

Whilst they are found mainly in arid spiny spinifex regions, the Spinifex Hopping Mouse are also found in Acacia shrubland, Eucalypt woodland and tussock grassland, especially when there is a population explosion, after good rains.

These delightful creatures can be seen in the Nocturnal House.

Check out our Fauna Index on the Spinifex hopping mouse (Notomys alexis).


  • Scientific classification
  • Kingdom: Animalia
  • Phylum: Chordata
  • Class: Mammalia
  • Order: Rodentia
  • Family: Muridae
  • Genus: Notomys
  • Species: N. alexis
  • Binomial name: Notomys alexis

ASDP FaunaASDP Arachnida ASDP Birds ASDP Insects ASDP Reptiles Dingo Ghost Bat Greater Bilby Numbat Red Kangaroo Short-beaked Echidna Spinifex Hopping Mouse Thorny Devil Western Quoll