Aussie mouse
April 28, 2019 7:00 AM Subscribe
What is this (Australian?) animal?
Tin Eye couldn't source the image, and I don't know where I got it. I made this picture of a friend's kids -- and they're supposed to be able to name all the animals, so I'm going to need an answer key...
Tin Eye couldn't source the image, and I don't know where I got it. I made this picture of a friend's kids -- and they're supposed to be able to name all the animals, so I'm going to need an answer key...
Best answer: It’s hard to tell if you don’t know anything about where the image came from, and we can’t see its tail. It doesn’t look as golden as a Kangaroo Rat to me, and the nose/white markings don’t seem right. (Also: Kangaroo Rat is native to North America if that matters.) It could be some species of Antechinus. But again, unless you know the cute little guy is antepodian, there’s a lot of things it could be!
Why don’t you save him for another day and put in a nice bandicoot instead? This has a advantage of actually being identifiable, if that’s something you’re trying to encourage. The Eastern Barred Bandicoot is especially stripey and distinctive.
posted by Concordia at 7:34 AM on April 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
Why don’t you save him for another day and put in a nice bandicoot instead? This has a advantage of actually being identifiable, if that’s something you’re trying to encourage. The Eastern Barred Bandicoot is especially stripey and distinctive.
posted by Concordia at 7:34 AM on April 28, 2019 [3 favorites]
It's hard to tell without being able to see the tail, which helps differentiate a lot of marsupial mice. It could be a super fluffy spinifex hopping mouse, or maybe a fat-tailed dunnart. You could just be non-specific and call it a marsupial mouse.
posted by Athanassiel at 7:43 AM on April 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by Athanassiel at 7:43 AM on April 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Yes! A bandicoot! They're just as cute.
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 9:24 AM on April 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
posted by pH Indicating Socks at 9:24 AM on April 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
The native mice species tend to have very large eyes which that doesn't seem to have. Honestly it looks like a young numbat to me except it doesn't have the eye stripe so that rules that out.
Bandicoots are great, maybe look at a nice Bilby too, they've very distinctive with their big ears.
posted by wwax at 12:35 PM on April 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
Bandicoots are great, maybe look at a nice Bilby too, they've very distinctive with their big ears.
posted by wwax at 12:35 PM on April 28, 2019 [1 favorite]
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posted by chasles at 7:14 AM on April 28, 2019