New furry faces at the Desert Park
The Alice Springs Desert Park celebrated the arrival of some new residents this month. Six Brush-tailed Mulgara joeys (Dasycercus blythi) were delivered in a successful breeding program onsite.
The program aims to reintroduce the Brush-Tailed Mulgara for public display while providing staff greater experience with these unique dasyurids.
They may be some of the sweetest-looking marsupials you may see (if you are quick), but these feisty, little, carnivorous animals are packed with a punch… being likened to Looney Tunes Tas, with their ferocity and jaws of a steel trap. They are close relatives to the Western quoll and Tasmanian devil.
Mulgara are known to frequent the spinifex dominated sand country, creating extensive burrow networks in sand dunes. They hunt at night, feeding mainly on insects, spiders and small vertebrates.
Parents of the joeys were collected from the Australian Wildlife Sanctuary property, Newhaven Wildlife Sanctuary, in March. The zoology team have been working hard on this project with the aim of having a family ready to display in the nocturnal house by mid next year… given their social skills, they will be treated to their own exhibit.
