Antechinus

These are distinguished from the Monodelphia, or Placentalia, by bringing forth their young in a very rudimentary state, nourishing them in a “marsupium,” which is either a regular pouch or a simple skinfold, such as our native cats and antechini develop at the time of parturition.

Being on the West Coast at the time, and always anxious to forward any scientific investigations, I collected all the varieties of kangaroo rats, antechini, and rats that came under my observation.

Smaller than the wambengers, the antechinuses are secretive and are seldom seen by people unless they are caught and brought into houses by domestic cats.

Two species of antechini live above the snowline. These are pugnacious rat-sized marsupials. Male antechini copulate so vigorously that they die from exhaustion.

I thought it was my fault until I consulted the experts, and found that antechinus die naturally at this time of the year.[…]Antechinus eat beetles, spiders and cockroaches, which they find in decaying litter and topsoil in their habitat of dense ground cover.

If held as a colony outside the breeding season, antechinus show relatively little aggression while still forming a linear hierarchy.