Possumstracks

Brush-Tail
Trichosurus vulpecula

Ring-Tail Possums

Of Western Australia

Brush-tail possums are common here in South Western Australia. They mostly prefer to live in the South-west forest where there is plenty of eucalypts but they will also live happily in smaller bush areas, even around houses. They used to be more common in the arid regions. I still see possums in the wheatbelt areas such as Tutanning Nature Reserve and Boyagin Rock Nature Reserve.

Brush-tail possums are approx 35cm-50 in their body length with a tail approx 25cm-40cms long and weigh approx 1.5kg-4kg. We do not have the Mountain Brush-tail Possum in Western Australia.

If you have more than one possum around you may have heard the screeching, which is mostly bluff but they will fight each other if one won't leave the territory.

These tracks were photographed at the Blackwood river, Margaret River, WA
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When possums are in a hurry they bound, placing their forefeet on the ground and then their hind feet in front of their forefeet.

These are probably Brush-tail scats (poo) as they were found on the camp table where the Brush-tail was seen eating the night before. Brushtail possum scats contain plant material and occasionally insect remains.

	The forefoot of a young Brush-tail possum. They walk with their feet turned outward.
	The hind foot of a young Brush-tail possum. It's first toe has no claw and the 2nd and 3rd toe are joined together, this is called syndactylous.

What do they eat?

They like to eat blossoms, soft fruits and can chew eucalyptus leaves. One of their favourite snacks is rose petals, and in captivity we have seen them eagerly devour peanut butter.

Possums usually feed and sleep in the trees but also spend some time on the ground.

In a Wandoo woodlands where there is little understorey I have seen them eat the bark of the wandoo trees.

I had read that Brush-tail possums don't have a white tail and this distinguishes them from the Ringtail possums but I have found Brush-tail possums with white tails in different locations. This one was seen at Tutanning Nature Reserve in the Wheatbelt. On average we have found approx 1=10 possums to have a white tail.

When the baby gets this big it no longer rides on its mothers back. This pair was photographed at the Porongurup's in the Great Southern region.

Porongurup's. Photograph by Mary Heslan.

In a two week trip around the wheatbelt and Great southern region in late November we saw many big babies trying to hang on to mum while poor mum tried to climb a tree or as seen here stealing food scraps from our gas cooker.

We also saw twin babies at Dryandra Woodlands trying to push past each other into a log that was only big enough for one.

Did you know that Brush-tail possums can be white?

Here is a white Brush-tail possum seen at Whiteman Park, Perth. To be a true albino the animal needs to have red eyes and as this possum was sound asleep I couldn't see. Go to our Red Kangaroo page to see a white kangaroo and to our reptiles pages to see a white bobtail lizard/skink.

Possums can live in a nest called a den/ drey or in a hollow tree branch on the ground or in a tree hollow up in a tree. They can also choose roofs, chimneys and old sheds as their homes.

Brush-tail possum

Brush-tail possums have two incisors, no lower canine teeth, a premolar and molars. Notice the premolars are outside the line of molars.

They are classed in the Diprotodontia order and they have two forward facing lower incisors and no lower canine teeth, and have syndactylous hind feet.

© Museum Victoria Australia 2005

Brush-tail possum's upper jaw and skull photographed at the Museum of Western Australia in Perth.

In marsupials and in some placental mammals the number of incisors is different on the top jaw to the bottom jaw. Brush-tail possums have canines on their upper jaw but not on their lower jaw.

The Ring-tail possum is usually smaller than the Brush-tail

The ring-tail possum usually lives in wet forests.

Although both possum species may have a white tail the Ring-tail possums tail is much more slender and longer.

The Ring-tail possum spends more time in the trees than Brush-tails and they make a bigger nest, around the size of a large soccer ball. It carries the material such as bark and leaves in a ball in its tail.

They are nocturnal and you may be able to hear them or spotlight their eyes at night as we did here at Perup in the south-west.
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Ring-tail possums are approx 32cm-40cm in body length with a tail approx 30cm-40cm long. They can weigh between 850g-1kilo.

Ring-tail possum scats

The Ringtail possums scats are pellet shaped and will have leaf matter in them.
Photographed at the Western Australian Museum.

Habitat

Tuart Trees grow towering above Peppermint trees at the Tuart forest near Bussleton, WA. Here is the largest remaining population of the Ring-tail possums in WA

Here are some other sites you may want to
visit to learn about possums. As always, check the information with other sources. Find out about other special possums in Western Australia like the honey possum, western pygmy possum, scaly-tail possum, and the northern possum.

Honey Possums on the ABC

More on the Honey Possum