Mulgara

Scientific name: Dasycercus cristicauda
  • Author(s)
    Louise Carter
  • Updated
    17/09/24
  • Read time
    2 minutes
Mulgara, Dasycercus cristicauda Click to enlarge image
A medium-sized dasyurid marsupial with tan to ginger fur above and a lighter colour underneath. Photographer: Babs & Bert Wells Image: Babs & Bert Wells
© Babs & Bert Wells

Fast Facts

  • IUCN Conservation Status
    NEAR THREATENED (NT)
    Australian Federal Conservation Status
    Vulnerable
  • Classification
    Genus
    Dasycercus
    Species
    cristicauda
    Family
    Dasyuridae
    Order
    Dasyuromorphia
    Class
    Mammalia
    Subphylum
    Vertebrata
    Phylum
    Chordata
    Kingdom
    Animalia
  • Size Range
    Body length up to 23 cm

Mulgaras can get all the water they need from food and produce highly concentrated urine and dry pellets of poo so that they don’t waste a drop.

Identification

A medium-sized dasyurid marsupial with tan to ginger fur above and a lighter colour underneath. It has a Mohawk-like crest of black hairs on the end of its tail.

Mulgara, Dasycercus cristicauda
Mulgara, Dasycercus cristicauda. Image: Mike Letnic
© CC BY-NC 4.0

Habitat

Sand dunes with Sandhill canegrass and around salt lakes with Nitre Bush

Distribution

Central Australia along the border of South Australia and Northern Territory

Distribution data sourced from the Atlas of Living Australia

Feeding and diet

It is carnivorous and eats insects and small reptiles and small mammals.

Breeding behaviours

Very little is known about the species, but the reproductive pattern is thought to be similar to that of another species D. blythi which breeds from June to October.

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