greater stick-nest rat

A description of the species was given in a report of the explorer Charles Sturt, and published in 1848. The species was placed as genus Mus, and later assigned to Leporillus, and so allied to the murid family of rodents.

The type was collected in vegetation on the Darling River, around 45 miles from Laidley Ponds, the disposition of this specimen is unknown.

The species has a broad and short head, with wide and rounded ears. The length of the head and body combined in 190 to 260 millimetres, and a tail noticeably shorter than that, measuring from 148 to 180 mm. The weight ranges from 190 to 450 grams. The pelage is a uniform grey-brown colour at the upper-side, the buff to grey beneath is paler and the two colours blend where they meet. The visible parts of the foot are whitish at the inside and greyish brown at the outside, this is from 42 to 48 mm in length.

The female possesses four teats, two pairs at the inguinal region.

The behavioural description is of a passive and gentle species, largely active at night, with a herbivorous diet largely composed of succulent leaves. The 'nest' of L. conditor is sited at a cave, rocky outcrop or over a shrub, the construction reaching a metre in height and around two metres in width. The larger part of the nest is tightly woven from sticks, the inner part is built from softer grassy material.

Ownership of nests appears typically to be passed down through relatively sedentary, genetically related female lines, with males typically distributing throughout the landscape at sexual maturity.{{Cite web |last=Onley |first=Isabelle |title=Meet the territorial females and matriarchs in Australia's backyard |url=http://theconversation.com/meet-the-territorial-females-and-matriarchs-in-australias-backyard-181617 |access-date=2022-05-10 |website=The Conversation |date=8 May 2022 |language=en}}

Mainland populations were reported in historical accounts to prefer building nests over slight depressions in the ground or above the burrows of other animals, which were used as escape routes. Some animals were known to weight their nests with small rocks.{{Cite news|date=1935-01-24|title=Our Curious Animals.|pages=64|work=Chronicle (Adelaide, SA : 1895 - 1954)|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article92362134|access-date=2020-09-08}}{{Cite news|date=1952-07-19|title=A RAT-HOUSE|pages=30|work=World's News (Sydney, NSW : 1901 - 1955)|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article139913874|access-date=2020-09-08}}{{Cite news|date=1934-03-03|title=JERBOA RAT|pages=21|work=Courier-Mail (Brisbane, Qld. : 1933 - 1954)|url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1175926|access-date=2020-09-08}} Nests were reported to be strong and secure enough to repel dingos and other predators.

Breeding may occur throughout the year, although most often recorded during the austral spring, April to May, and they produce a litter of between one and four young.

The population on Reevesby Island is highly associated with the invasive exotic weed African boxthorn, which provides shelter from predators due to its thorny foliage, and food in the form of leaves and fruit.{{Cite news |date=2024-07-26 |title=How this tiny native rat on the brink of extinction is thriving on an island infested with snakes |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-07-26/greater-stick-nest-rats-survive-reevesby-island-african-boxthorn/104141096 |access-date=2024-07-29 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU}}

The species' natural habitat is dry savanna, with perennial shrubland, especially of succulent and semi-succulent plant species including the chenopod and pig-face genera.{{cite web|date=1 April 1995|title=The Action Plan for Australian Rodents|url=https://www.environment.gov.au/node/14808|access-date=24 December 2015|publisher=Department of the Environment}}

It was formerly widespread in semi-arid habitat on the mainland,Ellis, M. (1995). A discussion of the large extinct rodents of Mootwingee National Park, western New South Wales. Australian Zoologist. 30:1-4. where the soils were shallow with calcareous underlying strata.Josephine Flood (2004) Archaeology of the Dreamtime, J.B Publishing, Marleston p. 206 {{ISBN|1-876622-50-4}}

Before the sharp decline in population in the late nineteenth century, the species was found south of a line from Shark Bay to the meeting of the rivers at the Murray–Darling basin and above the 28° southern latitude.

The drastic reduction in the range of this mammal is associated with the collapse of mammalian fauna in Australia between about 1875 and 1925, which is often linked to the decline of aboriginal land management and burning practices, widespread land clearance and agriculture, the introduction of foreign grazing animals including sheep, cattle and rabbits, and invasions by exotic predators like the European red fox and feral cats. The susceptibility of this species to a theorised epizootic event, an unidentified disease spreading from Western Australia, was estimated to be high in modelling of mammal's relative immunity.{{cite journal|last1=Abbott|first1=I.|date=December 2006|title=Mammalian faunal collapse in Western Australia, 1875-1925: the hypothesised role of epizootic disease and a conceptual model of its origin, introduction, transmission, and spread|journal=Australian Zoologist|language=en|volume=33|issue=4|pages=530–561|doi=10.7882/az.2006.024|issn=0067-2238|author-link1=Ian Abbott}}

The drastic contraction of the distribution range continued until the species could only be found on the Franklin Islands in the Nuyts Archipelago, and from this population the species was reintroduced to protected areas on the mainland and other islands.

There are introduced or reintroduced populations established on St Peter Island in the Nuyts Archipelago, Reevesby Island and Salutation Island.{{Cite web |title=Greater stick-nest rat - Leporillus conditor - ARKive |url=http://www.arkive.org/greater-stick-nest-rat/leporillus-conditor/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100122123818/http://www.arkive.org/greater-stick-nest-rat/leporillus-conditor/ |archive-date=2010-01-22 |access-date=2010-03-14}}

A reintroduced population at Arid Recovery, a fenced reserve at Roxby Downs in South Australia, persisted for over 20 years,{{Cite web |title=Arid Recovery - Greater Stick-nest Rat |url=https://aridrecovery.org.au/what-we-do/our-wildlife/greater-stick-nest-rat |access-date=2024-09-23 |website=aridrecovery.org.au}} but is now believed to be locally extinct, following periods of drought, high temperatures, degradation of food plants by over-abundant burrowing bettongs, and the reintroduction of the predatory western quoll.{{Cite journal |title=Arid Recovery Annual Report 2022-2023 |url=https://aridrecovery.org.au/who-we-are/annual-reports/2022-2023-annual-report.pdf |journal=Arid Recovery Annual Reports|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240901083105/https://aridrecovery.org.au/who-we-are/annual-reports/2022-2023-annual-report.pdf |archive-date=1 September 2024 }}{{Cite web |title=What happens when you let a predator loose in a conservation area? These quolls were put to the task |url=https://www.unsw.edu.au/newsroom/news/2024/01/what-happens-when-you-let-a-predator-loose-in-a-conservation-are |access-date=2025-01-17 |website=UNSW Sites |language=en}}

The outcome of a series of translocations to the fenced Mount Gibson Sanctuary in Western Australia is undetermined. However, in August 2024 the population was assessed as "close to local extinction" following dry summer conditions in 2023-24.{{Cite journal |last=Sinclair, Anderson, Callander, Bourne, Sitters, Joseph, Kanowski |date=2024 |title=Eco-Health Report 2023: Mt Gibson Sanctuary |url=https://www.australianwildlife.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/07/Mt-Gibson-Ecohealth-Report-2023.pdf |journal=Australian Wildlife Conservancy}}

Reintroduction attempts began at a fenced landscape within NSW's Mallee Cliffs National Park in September 2020,{{Cite web |date=2020-10-28 |title=Stick-nest building mammal back in the Mallee |url=https://www.australianwildlife.org/stick-nest-building-mammal-back-in-the-mallee/ |access-date=2020-11-11 |website=AWC - Australian Wildlife Conservancy |language=en-AU}} with the species observed as persisting during formal monitoring in 2023.{{Cite journal |last=Ladd, Holding, Booth-Remmers, Hornstra, Joseph, Holland, Kanowski |date=2023 |title=Eco-Health Report 2022-2023: Mallee Cliffs |url=https://www.australianwildlife.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Mallee-Cliffs-Ecohealth-Report-2022-23-1.pdf |journal=Australian Wildlife Conservancy}} The species was reintroduced to Dirk Hartog Island in May 2021, with early monitoring suggesting ongoing survival.{{Citation|title=Parks and Wildlife Service, Western Australia - Greater stick-nest rats released onto Dirk Hartog Island {{!}} Facebook|url=https://www.facebook.com/WAParksWildlife/videos/greater-stick-nest-rats-released-onto-dirk-hartog-island/160018576190497/|language=en|access-date=2021-09-02}}{{Cite web|date=2 September 2021|title=Ground-breaking return of native rodents to Dirk Hartog Island|url=https://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/McGowan/2021/09/Ground-breaking-return-of-native-rodents-to-Dirk-Hartog-Island.aspx|url-status=dead|access-date=2 September 2021|archive-date=2 September 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210902100445/https://www.mediastatements.wa.gov.au/Pages/McGowan/2021/09/Ground-breaking-return-of-native-rodents-to-Dirk-Hartog-Island.aspx}}Cowen, Saul; Rayner, Kelly; Sims, Colleen; (1 July 2021). Dirk Hartog Island National Park Ecological Restoration Project : Stage Two–Year Three Translocation and Monitoring Report

A high proportion of reintroduction attempts for the species have not been successful.{{Cite journal |last1=Onley |first1=I. R. |last2=White |first2=L. C. |last3=Moseby |first3=K. E. |last4=Copley |first4=P. |last5=Cowen |first5=S. |date=2022-08-18 |title=Disproportionate admixture improves reintroduction outcomes despite the use of low-diversity source populations: population viability analysis for a translocation of the greater stick-nest rat |journal=Animal Conservation |volume=26 |issue=2 |language=en |pages=216–227 |doi=10.1111/acv.12812 |s2cid=251685412 |issn=1367-9430|doi-access=free }} Attempts to reintroduce the species failed at Faure Island and Heirisson Prong in Western Australia, at Yookamurra Sanctuary and Venus Bay Conservation Park in South Australia, and at Scotia Sanctuary and Sturt National Park in NSW.{{Cite web |title=Reintroducing locally extinct mammals to Sturt National Park {{!}} Centre for Ecosystem Science |url=https://www.ecosystem.unsw.edu.au/research-projects/conservation-practice/reintroductions/reintroducing-locally-extinct-mammals-sturt-national-park |access-date=2020-09-03 |website=www.ecosystem.unsw.edu.au}}{{Cite news |date=2024-09-21 |title=These native species were locally extinct but are now reclaiming their desert homeland |url=https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-09-22/wild-deserts-program-saving-native-animals-from-extinction/104371626 |access-date=2024-09-22 |work=ABC News |language=en-AU}}

Most failures have been blamed on inadequate habitat, food or release protocols, or excessive predation by monitors, raptors or feral cats. Hyperdispersal and stress responses due to the presence of predatory goannas were blamed for the failure of the reintroduction on Faure Island.

The catastrophic loss of animals at Sturt National Park — where 75% of the reintroduced rats died within just five days of release — was provisionally blamed on the site's microclimate differing from the rats' origin point, Reevesby Island.{{Cite web |date=2024-07-27 |title=Wild Deserts Newsletter #10 - August 2023 |url=https://us7.campaign-archive.com/?u=bb499ea0b610866ef34d6c1a2&id=75dc9db5dd |access-date=2024-09-22 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240727185351/https://us7.campaign-archive.com/?u=bb499ea0b610866ef34d6c1a2&id=75dc9db5dd |archive-date=27 July 2024 }} This was speculated to have contributed to dehydration, stress and malnutrition among the animals, despite the provision of supplementary wet food. However, it was also acknowledged that the reintroduction site hosts high densities of the predatory crest-tailed mulgara, which had been reintroduced to the site first, on the assumption the predators would not be a threat to the rats.

The species is currently being bred in captivity at Monarto Safari Park and Adelaide Zoo, with progeny provided to reintroduction projects.{{Cite web|date=2020-09-18|title=Fluffy stick-nest rats born at Monarto Safari Park as part of conservation program|url=https://www.monartosafari.com.au/greater-stick-nest-rats-pups/|access-date=2020-09-20|website=Monarto Safari Park|language=en-AU}} Individuals from a captive population at Taronga Zoological Park have been used in research to improve the knowledge of health data of those in captivity.{{Cite journal |last1=Tulk |first1=Melissa L. |last2=Stannard |first2=Hayley J. |last3=Old |first3=Julie M. |date=2016-09-02 |title=Haematology and serum biochemistry in captive Australian native murids: black-footed tree-rat (Mesembriomys gouldii) and greater stick-nest rat (Leporillus conditor) |journal=SpringerPlus |volume=5 |issue=1 |page=1479 |doi=10.1186/s40064-016-3111-7 |pmid=27652053 |issn=2193-1801|pmc=5010547 |doi-access=free }}

{{Reflist|1|refs=

{{cite book |last1=Sturt |first1=C. |title=Narrative of an Expedition into Central Australia |volume=1 |date=1848 |publisher=T & W Boone |location=London |page=120 |url=http://adc.library.usyd.edu.au/data-2/p00102.pdf |format=transcript}}

{{cite book |last1=Menkhorst |first1=P.W. |last2=Knight |first2=F. |author-link1=Peter Menkhorst |author2-link=Frank Knight |title=A field guide to the mammals of Australia |date=2011 |publisher=Oxford University Press |location=Melbourne |isbn=9780195573954 |page=208 |edition=3rd}}

{{MSW3 Muroidea | id = 13001431 | page = }}

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{{Murinae (Pogonomys–Pseudomys)}}

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Category:Leporillus

Category:Mammals of Western Australia

Category:Endangered fauna of Australia

Category:Extinct mammals of South Australia

Category:Mammals of New South Wales

Category:Rodents of Australia

Category:Mammals described in 1848

Category:Taxonomy articles created by Polbot