Shark Bay mouse

Shark Bay mouse
Conservation status
Vulnerable (IUCN 3.1)
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Phylum:	Chordata
Class:	Mammalia
Order:	Rodentia
Family:	Muridae
Genus:	Pseudomys
Species:	P. fieldi
Binomial name
Pseudomys fieldi (Waite, 1896)
Synonyms
Pseudomys praeconis Thomas, 1910

The Shark Bay mouse, Djoongari or Alice Springs mouse (Pseudomys fieldi) is a species of rodent in the family Muridae. It is found only in Australia, restricted to four islands in the Shark Bay area. It was once found throughout the western two thirds of Australia but it suffered greatly after the arrival of Europeans and feral animals. Its range was reduced to coastal sand dunes on Bernier Island, leaving it severely endangered. In 2003 the Australian Wildlife Conservancy (AWC) released some Shark Bay mice onto Faure Island in the hope of creating another population. Despite the presence of owls the reintroduction was successful and the population quickly grew to a larger size than that of Bernier Island, no longer leaving the species on the brink of extinction.

Fossil evidence expanded the known range of "Pseudomys praeconis" from the Shark Bay area to areas along the western coast of Australia (Archer and Baynes 1973 and Baynes 1982 cited in Baynes 1990, p. 317), and further inland into the arid zones (Baynes 1984 cited in Baynes 1990, p. 318). It was realised, as the range was further extended by fossil remains, the remains of Pseudomys fieldi represented the easterly bound of the one species (Baynes 1990, 318).

References

• Tim Flannery, Country: a continent, a scientist & a kangaroo, ISBN 1-920885-76-5
• Baynes, A 1990, 'The mammals of Shark Bay, Western Australia', in Research in Shark Bay: Report of the France-Australe bicentenary expedition committee, eds PF Berry, SD Bradshaw & BR Wilson, Western Australian Museum, Perth, WA.