Common Australian brush-tailed possum
The common Australian brush-tailed possum, a marsupial resembling a cat in size, is known for its adaptability to various habitats, primarily residing in trees but also utilizing holes, rabbit burrows, and termite mounds. With a thick, woolly coat that ranges in color from silver gray to reddish brown, these nocturnal creatures are skilled foragers, using their keen senses to locate a diverse diet that includes leaves, insects, fruits, and even carrion. Their unique prehensile tails allow them to hang upside down and maneuver adeptly through trees, although they prefer to traverse the ground when moving between trees. Adult brush-tailed possums typically weigh between 8 to 11 pounds and have a life span of up to 13 years in the wild.
These solitary animals mark their territories and have a short mating season from March to May, giving birth to a single joey that spends the first few months of its life in the mother's pouch. While they face few natural predators, their population is impacted by human activities, such as trapping and poisoning. However, the common brush-tailed possum is currently abundant and not considered a threatened species, thriving in both wild and urban environments.
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Common Australian brush-tailed possum
Australian brush-tailed possums are about the size of cats and live mostly in trees, but they adapt easily to living in holes or termite mounds. They eat almost anything that they find while foraging and scavenging at night. They can hang upside down by their tails.
Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Mammalia
Order: Marsupialia
Family: Phalangeridae
Genus: Trichosurus
Species: Vulpecula
The common Australian brush-tailed possums have thick, woolly coats, ranging in color from silver gray to reddish brown to creamy golden. They live in trees in woodland areas. Some also make their homes in low bushes, caves, rabbit burrows, and termite mounds. In suburban areas people have found them eating in their gardens and scavenging in city parks. Using their keen senses of smell and touch to find food, possums locate leaves and insects in trees, as well as shoots, fruits, flowers, eggs, nestling birds, and carrion (dead animals). A particular favorite is Australian mistletoe, a tree parasite. They may even eat some poisonous plants without being harmed. The possums have few enemies aside from humans. People trap and poison brush-tails for destroying gardens and harming trees by stripping all the leaves.
Brush-tailed possums are cat-sized, one to two feet (thirty to sixty centimeters) long with tails about one foot (thirty centimeters) long. Females weigh up to eight pounds (three and a half kilograms) and males up to eleven pounds (five kilograms). Brush-tailed possums move easily about in trees and scamper or run on the ground. The hind feet of brush-tails are moist for greater ease in scampering in the trees. They are able to run headfirst down a tree trunk. The possums are able to wrap their tails around branches for support or to hang upside down by them (this is called a prehensile tail). They can eat and sleep hanging upside down. They eat and sleep in trees, but cross from one tree to another on the ground because they cannot jump like squirrels.
Brush-tailed possums are nocturnal (active at night), foraging about one and a half miles (two and a half kilometers) each night. Brush-tails are also solitary (they live alone) and mark their territories to identify their own "space."
Common brush-tails mate from March to May. Males will bond with the females for only a month so that they are able to mate with two females a season. Gestation (duration of pregnancy) is seventeen to eighteen days. One baby is born at a time. The joey crawls through the mother's fur to her pouch. If it fails to make it and dies, a second joey will be born shortly. The joey lives in the pouch for four to five months and is mature at one year of age.
The life span of brush-tailed possums is thirteen years in the wild and seventeen years in captivity. Brush-tailed possums are abundant in the wild and are not a threatened species.
Bibliography
Leue, Brad. “Common Brushtail Possum.” Australian Wildlife Conservancy, www.australianwildlife.org/wildlife/common-brushtail-possum/. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
Myers, Grace. “Trichosurus Vulpecula.” Animal Diversity Web, 2000, animaldiversity.org/accounts/Trichosurus‗vulpecula/. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.
Schubiger, Volia. “Possum Lifespan: How Long Do Possums Live?” A-Z Animals, 27 Jun. 2023, a-z-animals.com/blog/possum-lifespan-how-long-do-possums-live/. Accessed 17 Apr. 2024.