Cotton Thistle vs Gilbert's dunnart

Onopordum acanthium compared with Sminthopsis gilberti

Key Differences

• Cotton Thistle is Endangered while Gilbert's dunnart is Least Concern.

Taxonomic Classification

Rank	Cotton Thistle	Gilbert's dunnart
Kingdom	Plantae (Plants)	Animalia (Animals)
Phylum	Magnoliophyta (Flowering Plants)	Chordata (Chordates)
Class	Magnoliopsida (Dicots)	Mammalia (Mammals)
Order	Asterales (Daisies & Sunflowers)	Dasyuromorphia (Dasyuromorphia)
Family	Asteraceae (Daisy Family)	Dasyuridae
Genus	Onopordum	Sminthopsis
Species	Onopordum acanthium	Sminthopsis gilberti

Conservation Status

Cotton Thistle

EN — Endangered

Gilbert's dunnart

LC — Least Concern

Physical Characteristics

Attribute	Cotton Thistle	Gilbert's dunnart
Diet	—	—
Average Lifespan	—	—
Average Length	—	—
Average Weight	—	—

Habitat & Geographic Range

Cotton Thistle

Habitat

Found across multiple habitat types including temperate broadleaf and mixed forests, tundra, and tropical and subtropical moist broadleaf forests, among 10 distinct biome types. Populations are also found in montane and highland environments at higher elevations.

Range

Widely distributed across Asia (Georgia, India, Japan), Europe (22 countries), North America (Canada, United States), Oceania and the Pacific (Australia, New Zealand), and South America (Argentina, Brazil, Chile). Currently classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List, this species faces significant conservation challenges across its range.

Gilbert's dunnart

Habitat

Typically found in diverse terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems.