Yellow-footed antechinus

Antechinus flavipes

The Yellow-footed mouse bag, also Gelbfüßige Breitfuß bag mouse ( Antechinus flavipes ) is the most widespread representative of the Australian marsupial genus Antechinus. It was described in 1838 by George Robert Waterhouse as Phascogale flavipes.

Appearance

The Yellow-footed mouse bag stands out with their coloring - the head is gray; Sides, buttock, abdomen and legs are of a warm, orange - brown color; the eyes are surrounded by a white ring and the tail tip is black - of the other Breitfuß bag from mice and one of the most striking colored small marsupials. In a head -body length from 90 to 160 mm and a tail length of 65-140 millimeters this type reaches a weight of 20 to 75 grams.

Dissemination

It concerns with the Yellow-footed mouse and bag the most widely used Breitfuß bag mouse. They settled on the Australian mainland areas from northeastern Queensland to the south-west of Western Australia. There are three known subspecies: A. f rubeculus found in Queensland from Mount Spec National Park to Cooktown. A. flavipes f, the most widespread subspecies, comes from Eungella in Queensland over New South Wales and Victoria to the Mount Lofty Ranges in South Australia before. The third subspecies, A. f leucogaster, inhabited the southwest of Western Australia.

Habitat

A variety of habitats are inhabited by this species. It is found in both tropical rainforests and in wetlands and dry open landscapes. There, the Yellow-footed bag mouse moves rapidly on the ground, where she also runs headlong at the bottom of old tribes along.

Food

Yellow-footed mice feed primarily on insects bag, the range of food is sufficient but of flowers and nectar to young birds or even house mice. The latter are literally been up and turned inside out there, the remnants remain often are open.

Reproduction

In this way we find the special reproduction of Breitfuß Bag mice, in which all the males die shortly after mating. In Yellow-footed mice bag can last up to 12 hours of copulation, the male holds the female with a bite and with his front paws. After 1 month, 12 young are born, which are suckled in the peritoneal fold suspended for another 5 weeks. After this time they will be stored by the dams in a nest and to supply to the age of 3 months. The young Yellow-footed mice bags continue to live together in this nest until they show territorial behavior in the following spring and establish their own territories.