Dibbler

The dibbler is a small marsupial with coarse brownish-grey fur speckled with white.

It has distinctive white rings around the eyes and a tapering hairy tail.

Dibblers are most active at dawn and dusk and their main habitat is dense heath with lots of leaf litter.

These small carnivores feed mostly on ground-dwelling insects and other invertebrates. Sometimes they eat small lizards, birds and mammals. Dibblers also eat berries and lick nectar from flowers.

The dibbler breeds once a year during autumn. A mating session may continue for several hours.

Young are 2mm long when born and females can carry as many as eight at one time in their pouch!

Dibblers were once widespread in south-west WA. Believed extinct in early 1900s but found in 1967 on the WA south coast, and later on two WA islands. New populations have also been established through captive breeding programs. Dibblers will be returned to Dirk Hartog Island as part of the Return to 1616 ecological restoration project.

Dibblers are threatened by habitat loss caused by land clearing, die-back disease and wildfires. Predation by introduced predators is also a threat.