The Bushtail Possum

    The bushtail possum is very common throughout Australia.  The bushtail possum is an arboreal animal,(it spends most of it's life in a tree.) It also likes to walk on the ground.  That might be a reason it gets run over in the middle of the night. The possum's tail is  prehensile, (top side covered with hair, but the bottom side isn't.  The bottom side is sticky so that it can hold on to things.)   The bushtail eats fruit, leaves, berries, and bark.   The possum lives in tree hollows or it will sometimes creep onto someone's roof and they can be very aggravating.  It really doesn't  mind being so close to people.

The Sugar Glider

Sugar gliders will eat almost anything.   Vegetables, fruits, and other foraging foods like nuts  will be included in many different diets, while others will include meat.  Gliders will mate 3 or more times a year in captivity.   The litters are rarely 3, sometimes 2, but usually 1.  Baby gliders are called joeys, just like with other marsupials.  The offspring has a gestation period of 16 days at which they are born and emerge from their mother completely, blind and helpless.   They must find their own way into the mothers pouch the first time to finish the development.  The joey will spend up to 10 weeks living and growing in the mothers pouch.  Both the male and female take care of the young when it's born.

The Leadbeaters Possum
The leadbeaters possum is a very rare animal it is soo rare they actually thought it was extinct!  They eat manna, nuts, honey dew, and tree sap.  Around eight of these possums live in a nest in a hollow tree made of shredded tree bark.  The leadbeaters possum is a quick, quiet animal that lives up in the trees.   It is only found in the Mountain Ash forest in the Great Dividing Range.  An adult Leadbeater weighs the same amount as a guinea pig!  That's light! All marsupials are born naked (with out hair) and blind.  It spends much of it's development in it's mother's pouch.   

The Ringtail Possum

The Ringtail Possum is one of the most common possums throughout Australia.  It has a prehensile tail (a tail used to grab on to things to climb)  and when it's not using it, it holds it in a tight coil.   Therefore giving it its name, the Ringtail.  This nocturnal animal live in tree hollows lined with tree bark and leaves.  If it could only choose one thing to eat forever and ever it would choose rose buds, they can't get enough of them!  They also feed on various fruits, flowers, and leaves.