Diurnal activity budget of the kultarr (Antechinomys laniger) in captivity

Hayley J. Stannard; Lisa M. Goodchild; Julie M. Old

doi:10.1071/AM24038

RESEARCH ARTICLE (Open Access)

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Diurnal activity budget of the kultarr (Antechinomys laniger) in captivity

Hayley J. Stannard

^A ^* , Lisa M. Goodchild ^A and Julie M. Old

^B

+ Author Affiliations

- Author Affiliations

^A School of Agricultural, Environmental and Veterinary Sciences, Charles Sturt University, Wagga Wagga, NSW, Australia.

^B School of Science, Western Sydney University, Hawkesbury Campus, Penrith, NSW, Australia.

^* Correspondence to: hstannard@csu.edu.au

Handling Editor: Bronwyn McAllan

Australian Mammalogy 47, AM24038 https://doi.org/10.1071/AM24038

Submitted: 25 October 2024 Accepted: 30 January 2025 Published: 24 February 2025

© 2025 The Author(s) (or their employer(s)). Published by CSIRO Publishing on behalf of the Australian Mammal Society. This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License (CC BY-NC-ND)

Abstract

The kultarr (Antechinomys laniger) is a small carnivorous marsupial native to arid and semiarid regions of mainland Australia. This study assessed historical video data to develop an activity budget for a captive kultarr population. The study had very limited diurnal footage and found that kultarrs spent the most time displaying movement, foraging and stationary alert behaviours. The study has contributed to our understanding of kultarr behaviour in captivity; however, more research is needed that encompasses a larger data set to fully understand kultarr activity.

Keywords: activity rhythms, behaviour, dasyurid, ethogram, ethology, marsupial, Marsupialia, welfare.

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