Species of 'extinct' mouse rediscovered after 150 years in Australia

A mouse, whose species was believed to have been extinct more than 150 years ago, has been rediscovered in Australia.

Researchers further compared the DNA samples from eight extinct native rodents and 42 of their living relatives, to conclude that the ‘extinct’ was indistinguishable from the Shark Bay mouse, which is found on several small islands off the coast of Western Australia, reports The Guardian.

The study, that was published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America or PNAS, has helped scientists understand better what must have led to the decline of native species since the arrival of Europeans in Australia.

Australian National University evolutionary biologist Emily Roycroft said native mice accounted for 41 per cent of all the Australian mammals that had become extinct since European colonisation started in 1788 and now it’s and the resurrection of the species is a positive sign “in the face of the disproportionally high rate of native rodent extinction,” adds the report.

The decline of the species could likely be due to a mix of human impacts.

Gould’s mouse, Pseudomys gouldii, was common and widespread in eastern inland Australia before the European settlement in the continent. Named after renowned English ornithologist John Gould’s wife, Elizabeth, it had disappeared potentially due to ‘introduced cats’ after the 1840s.

The mouse appeared relatively smaller than black rats and lived socially in small groups, digging a burrow up to 15cm under the bushes.