The Endangered Black-footed Tree-rat

One of Australia’s largest native rodents, the Black- footed Tree-rat (Mesembriomys gouldii) weighs almost a kilogram: so big that it competes with Brushtail Possums for tree hollows in which to roost in the eucalypt woodlands of the tropical north. These animals are agile climbers, steadying themselves on broad feet and using their long brush-tipped tail as a balance as they bound among the branches or forage on the ground.

Jean-Paul Ferrero/AUSCAPE

They eat mostly fruit (especially of Pandanus trees) and large seeds. Distributed in separate populations in the Kimberley, Top End and Far North Queensland, this species has declined severely in recent decades.

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