Our Remarkable Rodents

Australia’s native rats and mice are as worthy of love and attention as the continent’s better-known marsupials.

- Tim Low

Perched on a low branch was a creature the size of a small rabbit with a super-long tail that ended with a flourish in a shaggy white brush. ‘Spectacular’ is a word regularly bestowed on the black-footed tree-rat, but words and photos hadn’t readied me for the reality.

Australia is so famous for marsupials that its rodents go under-appreciated, even though they outnumber marsupials across much of the continent, come in many shapes and sizes and occupy numerous ecological roles. Some are beautiful, with soft chestnut, orange or golden fur. I admire our marsupials, but Australia has rodents that excite me just as much.

Our smallest marsupials used to be called ‘marsupial mice’, encouraging the idea that Australia is without true native rodents. In truth, however, rodents account for almost a quarter of our mammal species. Newer on the scene than our marsupials and egg-laying monotremes, they are here because one rodent species arrived from Asia a little more than 5 million years ago, probably travelling on floating rafts of vegetation, and another came later. These two species eventually gave rise to the 65 or so species we have today.