Aussie family finds rare 'colony' living in Christmas tree box after noticing 'strong smell'

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Aussie family finds rare 'colony' living in Christmas tree box after noticing 'strong smell'

Like many Aussies around the country, one Sydney family recently hauled their Christmas tree out of storage with eager anticipation for the festive season. However, when they dragged it into their living room, they quickly realised this year’s celebrations were going to be more unusual — and stinkier — than previous years.

After removing the box from their garage, where it had been stored for months, the family heard something moving around inside. Too “scared to open it themselves”, Ben Dessen, CEO and Director of Hills Wildlife Sanctuary, told Yahoo News Australia he was called in to investigate.

When he arrived at their home in Dural, a suburb in the city’s northwest, he noted the cardboard containing the plastic tree also had “quite a strong smell”.

But not even he was prepared for what was hiding inside.

After cracking open the box, Ben found not one but “six little baby antechinus” — a rarely seen native marsupial — scurrying between the green branches.

A nest appeared to have been crafted inside by the young creatures’ mum, who promptly bolted and hid under the couch.

“This was certainly a first for me,” Ben told Yahoo News.

“As a wildlife rescuer, we get calls to help animals that find themselves in some pretty unusual places, but I’ve never seen a colony of antechinus living inside a Christmas tree box before.”

Aussie family had never heard of antechinus before

Like many Australians, the family had never heard of the animals before, Ben said.

“Once I was able to catch all the antechinus, it was a great opportunity to educate the family about these amazing marsupials and how special it was to be able to see them up close,” he said.

He also posted footage of the discovery online, asking others if they could guess what had been residing inside.

“It’s not what you expect,” he captioned the clip.

The video shows the wildlife expert race to catch each of the “amazing little creatures”, which he noted were quite “quick”.

“It’s definitely not the Christmas surprise that this family was expecting tonight,” Ben said.
Many Aussies, like this family, have never heard of the native creatures before. Source: Ben Dessen/Hills Wildlife Sanctuary

What are antechinus?

Antechinus are members of the dasyurid family, which are carnivorous marsupials and include the Tasmanian devil and quolls, he explained.

They’ve got “really sharp teeth”, pointy snouts and “really round little ears”, which help distinguish them from a common rat or mouse.

“Antechinus males only live for roughly 12 months and after maturing and mating, they die from exhaustion,” Ben continued.

“This process is known as semelparity and is common in many Dasyurid species.”

According to WIRES, there are 10 species of Antechinus in Australia.

There are 10 species of antechinus in Australia, according to WIRES. Source: WIRES/ @eucalyptaus
What happened to the baby antechinus?

Hoping to reunite the babies with their mum, Ben placed them in a nest box overnight.

“The mother ended up coming back, following their calls, and was curled up inside the box with the babies the next morning,” he said.

“We could then safely relocate the nest box to a garden shed outside, where the family were happy for the antechinus to live as they were away from the house.”

But it wasn’t such good news for the Christmas tree, which “had a very strong odour” and unfortunately had to be thrown out.