Animal Species:Common Ringtail Possum
The Common Ringtail Possum is well known to many Sydney residents. Together with the Common Brushtail Possum, it has adapted well to living in close association with humans and is often seen in suburban gardens at night.
Identification
About the size of a cat, the Common Ringtail Possum is grey with white patches behind the eyes and on the belly, and orange-brown tinges on the tail and limbs. Its long prehensile tail has a white tip and it uses it like a fifth limb to climb and jump between connecting branches, fences and powerlines. The structure of its forefeet, with a gap between the second and third fingers (known as 'syndactyly'), allows the possum to hold onto branches securely.
Sometimes people mistake Black Rats for Ringtail Possums. Some characteristics that help to distinguish the Common Ringtail Possum from the Black Rat include:
- Front teeth: Three pairs of upper incisors, one pair of lower incisors.
- Head: Rounded head with slightly bulging eyes.
- Ears: Short rounded ears with white patch behind.
- Colouring: Variable grey to near-black back, sometimes tinged red-orange, white to red-orange below; red-orange legs.
- Tail: Tapering prehensile tail with a white tip, naked underside, furred above. Carried in coil when not used.
Size range
Body 300 mm - 350 mm, Tail 300 mm - 350 mm, weight 700 - 1100 g.
Similar Species
Sometimes confused with the Black Rat
Distribution
The Common Ringtail Possum is found in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
Habitat
Almost exclusively tree-dwelling, the Common Ringtail Possum lives in in forests, woodlands, rainforests, dense scrub and suburban gardens. During the day, the Common Ringtail Possum sleeps in its spherical nest or 'drey' made from grass and shredded bark. It builds the drey in a tree hole, tree fork or dense vegetation, and several individuals may share the one nest.
Feeding and Diet
The Common Ringtail Possum is nocturnal and eats a variety of leaves of both native and introduced plants, as well as flowers and fruits. By eating its own faecal pellets, it digests its food twice to extract the maximum amount of nutrients. When the mother is feeding, the male carries the young on his back and cares for them.
Other behaviours and adaptations
The Common Ringtail is the only species of possum currently known in which the male helps to care for the young.
Classification
- Species:
- peregrinus
- Genus:
- Pseudocheirus
- Family:
- Pseudocheiridae
- Order:
- Diprotodontia
- Subclass:
- Marsupialia
- Class:
- Mammalia
- Subphylum:
- Vertebrata
- Kingdom:
- Animalia
Ondine Evans
, Web Researcher/Editor
Last Updated:
Tags possums, marsupials, vertebrates, identification, wild, wildlife of sydney,
8 comments
Hi Possumgirl, the omnivorous common brush-tail possum does has a reputation as a scavenger of pet food amongst other things. This can bring it into conflict with some pets and their owners. Such behaviour is much less common for ringtails as they tend to prefer leaves, flowers and fruits.
Hi LadyJOJO, no we don't have racoons in Australia (they are found in North America). It sounds like you have both ringtail possums and brushtail possums in your backyard. Brushtails are quite vocal and hiss and squabble amongst themselves quite a lot. Ringtails are much less vocal and usually only make a soft high pitched chirping twitter. Your creature with a grey body and black bushy tail sounds like a common brushtail possum, although the face marking you describe are usual for this species.