Details
Pseudocheirus peregrinus
The common ringtail possum is an Australian tree-dwelling marsupial with a curled gripping tail. At night it moves through branches to feed on eucalyptus and other leaves.
Map: Ecoregions 2017 © RESOLVE (CC BY 4.0) · Natural Earth (PD)
It lives in forests and urban greenery of eastern and southern Australia. Eucalyptus woodland, shrubland, and garden trees provide food and sites for leafy round nests.
Head-body length 30-35 cm; weight 700 g-1.1 kg. A long prehensile tail with a white tip, rounded ears, and grey-brown fur make it recognizable.
Nocturnal and loosely social, it may live in small family groups. By day it rests in a drey, then travels along branches after dark.
A herbivore, it eats eucalyptus leaves, flowers, fruit, and shoots. A large caecum ferments leaves, and soft feces may be reingested to recover nutrients.
Females rear young in the pouch and later carry them on the back. Juveniles learn branch travel close to the nest and mother.
It is listed as Least Concern. It adapts to suburbs, but loss of tree cover, nest sites, and predation by cats and foxes can matter locally.
