Hiding in a shed in Gympie |
A wellknown Australian animal is the Possum. It's an endangered species in Australia, in New Zealand however it is a pest and wrongfully introduced.
In its native land the possum is up against dingoes, bush fires and
less palatable vegetation. In New Zealand there are no predators and
lots of very palatable vegetation. As a result, possums have a huge
impact on New Zealand ecosystems.
Photo by Steve Parish |
Wikipedia.
A possum is any of about 70 small to medium-sized marsupial species, living in trees native to Australia, New Guinea, and Sulawesi (and introduced to New Zealand and China).
Possums are quadrupedal marsupials with two well developed front teeth and with long thick tails. The smallest possum, indeed the smallest diprotodont marsupial, is the Tasmanian pygmy possum, with an adult head-body length of 70 mm and a weight of 10 g. The largest is the bear cuscus that may exceed 7 kg.
Possums are typically nocturnal and at least partly living in trees.. The various species inhabit most vegetated habitats, and several species have adjusted well to urban settings.
Diets range from generalist herbivores or omnivores (the common brushtail possum) to specialist browsers of eucalyptus (greater glider), insectivores (mountain pygmy possum) and nectar-feeders (honey possum).
With thanks to Denise Nesbitt , who created ABC. For more interesting ABC posts click on the logo in the sidebar . This week we are looking for words beginning with P.
25 comments:
I know they're probably a nuisance and cause problems of different kinds, but since I'm only looking at photos and from a distance, I think they are so cute!! Great post for the day as always, Wil!! Hope you have a wonderful week!!
http://ann-mythoughtsandphotos.blogspot.co.nz/2014/04/abc-wednesday-letter-p-for-possum.html you inspired me to do my possum story.
interesting facts, Wil
ALOHA from Honolulu
ComfortSpiral
=^..^= <3
What a lovely animal!
Such bright big eyes. Very cute.
Glad to know more about them.
too bad about the introduction of non-indigenous creatures in NZ
They're actually kind of cute with those big sad-looking eyes! Have a phantastic week, Wil.
leslie
abcw team
I think they sometimes get a bad rap. I can't say I've every seen a live one. Very interesting tidbits of info on them! I think their eyes are amazing.
What a sweet, shy looking creature, even if they do cause problems...
Your possums are cuter than our possums, which are downright mean looking critters, with tempers to match.
How cute!
To me they're adorable, but I'm a sucker for a cute critter.
Great shots of the possums and an interesting post.
So far I've been spared the bad storms (I live in central North Carolina). Thanks for asking. We have had a few tornado warnings this month but none have hit here so far.
They look quite adorable! It's unfortunate they are such a problem in New Zealand.
Very interesting information! Nice post:)
http://amitaag.blogspot.in/2014/04/passage.html
We had a possum in our back alley last summer that would taunt my greyhound by crawling on the ledge of the back fence frequently. Although I'm not fond of them, I didn't want my dog to kill it because I figured he had a purpose in our local ecosystem. Blessings!
Very interesting post and such cute pictures of possum.
Great pictures! I always thought these guys were so cute. I always had books about Australian mammals as a kid, I thought they were so fascinating.
They certainly look cute those little old Possums, but without wishing to offend, they look like they could give a nasty bite ?
Hope you are well,
Best wishes, Di..x
These critters are much more attractive than our sharp nosed, bare-tailed possums here in North America.
Thanks Wil, go ahead and tag the photo. I actually copied it from a site from the NZ conservation Dept. There is a source for the photo.
Possum and rat invade nest (Source: Nga Manu Images)
We caught and released one in the wild a few years ago, sure was a pesky creature.
Ann
Those are MUCH cuter creatures than the ones we have in North America! Ours tend to snarl and hiss while destroying gardens.
Interestig post! They look so cute :)
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