Eastern chestnut mouse

Reintroduction biology

The eastern chestnut mouse (ECM) is a vulnerable native species that currently occurs in Queensland and NSW, but has subfossil records in Victoria and west of the ACT. Like the pookila, we infer the ECM once occurred in Mulligans Flat Woodland Sanctuary (MFWS). The restoration of ECM to MFWS would fill the niche of a larger-bodied rodent than the pookila. The two species are known to naturally coexist in the wild. So far there have been two pilot translocations of a small number of wild ECM from Spicers Hidden Vale in Queensland to MFWS. One of the most exciting things we observed on our remote cameras was a pup conceived and born in MFWS trailing behind mum. The ability of ECM pups to cling to their mother’s teat as she moves around is known as ‘tenacious nipple attachment’.