Dunnarts on the run
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| Fast mover ... a Julia Creek Dunnart |
An endangered mouse-like marsupial from central Australia has been found to run more than 30 kilometres in one day while on heat.
Several marathon-running Julia Creek Dunnarts were clocked at the David Fleay Wildlife Park on the Gold Coast using odometers attached to running wheels in their enclosures.
Kate Pollock, a UQ Bachelor of Applied Science (Animal Studies) honours student, has been studying the reproductive cycle of 10 female dunnarts using 24-hour video surveillance and analysing their faeces and urine.
Julia Creek Dunnarts are rare carnivorous rodents that grow to about 20 centimetres long.
They were thought to be extinct until 1991 when they were rediscovered in the Mitchell grasslands of northwest Queensland and now live in 25 locations.
Ms Pollock has found that the dunnarts usually travel less than 10 kilometres a day but that increased to more than 30 when on heat with one individual spending nine hours running.
Their average speed of between one and three kilometres an hour when not on heat peaked at 7.4 kilometres-an-hour when in oestrus.
She said the aim of her research was to ensure the genetic viability of populations as well as understand more about their reproductive patterns, which could eventually boost wild populations.
