Status: Threatened and endangered.

These little critters are rat sized, carnivorous marsupials - characterized by a fluffy black tuft of hair at the end of their tails. Sadly after reproducing males of this species die and so do not generally live past the age of one. Their body length varies between 16 and 27cm, with their tails usually adding on another 16 to 24cm on top of this.  Continued habitat clearing and fragmentation, as well as habitat alteration by logging and mining are a threat to this little guy, as well as predation from cats and foxes.

Phascogales are classified as vulnerable in Victoria and Landcare Group St Andrews has a monitoring project for phascogales in this area. They have a relatively short life span so population numbers do not increase easily. A number of nest boxes are currently being erected throughout the St Andrews Wildlife Shelter property and night cameras will be set up to monitor the use of these boxes - we will be recording the numbers of brush tailed phascogales observed and sharing this information with Landcare Group to contribute to their wider Phascogale Project.