Mammals on Monday 11 - Ringtail Possum

The Ringtail Possum (Pseudocheirus peregrinus) is a common, tree living marsupial that can be found along all of the East coast of Australia.  It is a herbivore - which often brings it to the attention of urban gardeners and home owners when it eats domestic plants!

This possum also consumes caecotropes, which is material fermented in the caecum and expelled during the daytime when it is resting in a nest. This behaviour is called caecotrophy and is similar to that seen in rabbits. So, much to the surprise of people when they find this out, the possum poo that litters many suburban areas has actually passed through the possum twice!

It's common in the part of Melbourne where I live and I regularly see them in street and garden trees.  They also make good use of the aerial highways provided by the electricity and telephone wires that traverse our streets.

The Ringtail Possum weighs between 550 and 1,100 g and is approximately 30–35 cm (12–14 in) cm long when fully grown (excluding the tail, which is roughly the same length again). It has a long prehensile tail which normally displays a distinctive white tip over 25% of its length.  Ringtail Possums are about the same size as a wild rabbit - but are generally weigh rather less.

During the day, Ringtail Possums sleep in nests that they share with their mate and any dependant offspring and immature offspring of the previous year.

This Ringtail Possum built a nest in our garden, and was a regular visitor for a number of months.  You can see the white tip to its tail - and its pink nose!

These are some images of the most recent to visit our garden - they often set of the movement detectors of our outside lights, which alerts us to their presence.

I suspect that this individual was feeding on the awakening buds.

Cheers:  SM