Desert Mouse

This small stout mouse has short limbs. Its fur is brown above with long black guard hairs that give it a grizzled appearance.

It is grey-brown underneath and has a distinctive pale ring around its eye.

Desert mice live in arid inland areas in a variety of habitats with dense ground cover.They are nocturnal and mostly solitary. Plant material makes up most of their diet and they spend the day in sheltering in shallow burrows or underneath spinifex clumps.

The desert mouse breeds once a year and has an average of 3 young. Desert mice are sexually mature at about 10 weeks of age.

Populations increase dramatically after fire and good rainfall and increasing vegetation cover.

The desert mouse is widespread across arid and semi arid Australia.

It is proposed for reintroduction to Dirk Hartog Island as part of the Return to 1616 project for the purpose of reconstructing the island’s fauna.

Although desert mouse numbers fluctuate with environmental conditions and their range extended further south in the past, it is not considered threatened.