Possum Facts
Kingdom:
Five groups that classify all living things...
Possums are marsupials. This means the young are born after a short time and are very tiny and undeveloped. They crawl up their mother's belly and into a pouch where they stay and finish their development.
"My possum, Monkey Boy, should really be released back into the wild now that he is fully grown, but I am not sure how his survival rate will be. He's a bit spoilt.
Honey possum
Tarsipes rostratus
A tiny marsupial, the only survivor of an ancient group, which lives only on nectar and pollen and hold a number of extraordinary records amongst mammals: the smallest newborns, ...
Possums are marsupials that are originally from Australia but they were introduced to other parts of the world by early European settlers. Most possums are half the size of a regular house cat and have long tails and small ears.
Possums are found in Australia and New Guinea while opossums are found in North and South America.
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HONEY POSSUM
The honey possum inhabits fields and small shrubs, running along the ground and climbing with speed and dexterity.
Leadbeater's possum is a small weighing 120 - 160 g (4.3 - 5.8 oz). It is and nocturnal, and constructs a nest of loosely matted bark in a hollow tree.
The ringtail possum is an agile, arboreal (tree-dwelling) marsupial that lives in rainforests and coastal temperate deciduous forests in eastern and southwestern Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea.
Western pygmy possum - recovery plan (PDF - 400KB)
Western pygmy possum - Scientific Committee determination
Western pygmy possum - species profile (PDF - 189KB) ...
Common Brushtail Possum View full size
Common Brushtail Possum in tree View full size
White Common Brushtail Possum View full size ...
Playing Possum: When threatened or harmed, they will "play possum", mimicking the appearance and smell of a sick or dead animal.
Ring-tailed Possum (Western Ring-tailed Possum)
Rock Wallaby (Brush-tailed)
Rock Wallaby (Prosperine) ...
OTHER NAMES: Possum
DESCRIPTION: The opossum is North America's only marsupial - an animal with a pouch, like a kangaroo or a koala. The possum has been around for at least 70 million years and is one of Earth's oldest surviving mammals.
Hartman, C. 1952. Possums. Austin: University of Texas Press.
Wilson, D., S. Ruff. 1999. The Smithsonian Book of North American Mammals. Washington and London: Smithsonian Institution Press.
The Broom's Pygmy-possum is classified as a member of the order Marsupialia (Marsupials) and is a member of the family Burramyidae. It is also known as the mountain pygmy-possum.
They are a type of possum.
There are lots of different gliders. Some are so small they would fit in your hand.
Others are about the same size as a cat.
Scientists are close to developing a "magic bullet" toxin which can kill possums but is harmless to native animals and birds. (more)
Too many day walkers are being booked on the Milford Track without permission, the Department of Conservation says.
Using Greater gliders, ringtail possums and brushtail possums, I am attempting to understand the relationship between animal abundance and the quality of resources available to animals, ...
Phalangerids are relatively large, compared with other possums. The smallest species, the Sulawesi Bear Cuscus, is cat-sized, averaging 34 cm in length, while the largest, the Black-spotted Cuscus is around 70 cm long, and weighs 5 kilograms.
* Genghis - Growltiger's enemy in Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by
T. S. Eliot
* Jason - Seal-point on BBC TV's Blue Peter
* Koko & Yum-Yum - from Lillian Jackson Braun's "The Cat Who..." novels
* Misty Malarky Ying Yang, pet of Amy Carter ...
The predators include stoats, (Mustela erminea), which kill adults, and brush-tailed possums (Trichosurus vulpecula), which rob nests and eat kaka eggs. Stoats actually kill more females than males, as they are easier prey while incubating eggs.
Grass Snake Characteristics, Behavior and "Playing Possum"
Larger than adders and slow worms, the largest grass snakes are females that can reach five or occasionally even six feet in length. Males grow to around three feet long.
These animals are most famous for "playing possum." When threatened by dogs, foxes, or bobcats, opossums sometimes flop onto their sides and lie on the ground with their eyes closed or staring fixedly into space.
From domestic dogs and cats to stoats, weasels, ferrets, bushy-tailed possums and rats, they all have taken their toll on the numbers and reproductive success of the ground-nesting kiwis.
It has greatly declined, in part from habitat loss, in part because of introduced wasps and possums, which compete with the Kākā for honeydew, which is excreted by scale insects.
When frightened, the striped piglets crouch and "play possum". As they get older, flight becomes the more frequent response. However, when cornered or wounded, these pigs display considerable courage and frequently attack.
Many other animals such as rabbits, skunks, and possums share these burrows. Unfortunately, this habit also causes havoc to human landscaping, so they are considered pests.
Defense: may play "possum" when frightened - more often tries to frighten attacker by hissing & showing teeth
Food: scavenger
Hibernate: does not hibernate
Intelligence: some recent scientific literature places with cat and dog ...
The evening walk lasted about 2 hours during which we saw: Brush-tailed Possum, Betton, Quoll, Wombat. These small marsupials hide in burrows during the day coming out only at night.
DIPROTODONTIA
koala, wombats, possums, wallabies, & kangaroos
KOALA
WESTERN GRAY KANGAROO ...
Unique Behaviors:
Â- When the piglets are frightened they will crouch and 'play possum'.
Â- Red river hogs will often blow their breath on each other as a form of greeting.
The sugar glider is one of a number of volplaning (gliding) possums in Australia. This remarkable ability to glide is achieved through a flap of loose skin or membrane which extends between the fifth finger of the hand to the first toe of the foot.
This bird is endangered. Causes include habitat loss, predation, competition and illegal hunting. Pedators include rats, stoats, possums, cats and man.
photo courtesy of Peter LaTourrette
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AI into the urogenital sinus has been successful in the koala (Phascolarctos cinereus) with 6 live births from 11 inseminations reported (Johnson et al., 1999 abst.). Super-ovulated brush-tailed possums (Trichosurus vulpecula) and tammar wallabies ...
Environment
savanna, grassland, forest, scrub forest. Armadillos dig burrows and often share them with rabbits, skunks or possums.
Contains bibliographic databases of published research, including some abstracts, on five such species of mammal: horses (Equus caballus), possums (Trichosurus vulpecula), stoats, short-tailed weasels or ermines (Mustela erminea), ...
Cats in Literature (read these stories online)
The Black Cat - Mystery Story - By: Edgar Allen Poe
Alice In Wonderland & The Cheshire Cat
Puss In Boots
T.S. Eliot's 'Old Possums Book of Cats' ...
If this first phase of the act fails to frighten off the intruder, the hognose resorts to "playing possum." When struck or handled, the hognose jerks convulsively, twists over on its back, and remains motionless.
The population is estimated at fewer than 10,000 birds, and new information indicates that the species has almost disappeared from the mainland except for a few intensely managed sites, and those valleys that remain free of possums.
 See also: Monkey, Marsupial, Vulture, King vulture, Baboon
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