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Common brushtail possum

Trichosurus vulpecula

Photo by lori.tas
Published on Project Noah
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-41.8595, 146.005

Field Notes

Description:

A large possum with a prehensile that is naked on its lower underside. There are four colour variations: Silver Grey, Brown, Black and Gold.

Habitat:

The most widespread of all of the Australian possums. It is also the most likely possum species to co-exist with humans and has even increased in numbers in some areas.

Notes:

This one was seemingly raiding this firewood box.

Reference Links:

Common Brushtail Possum

Species ID Suggestions

Comments (2)
lori.tas
Agreed (I've seen both). Our 'possums' are actually named for American 'opossums'. The American word comes from the proto-Algonquian 'aposoum', meaning "white dog" or "white beast". When Europeans later got to Australia they recognized the small pouched mammals being roughly the same, and gave them the same name. Australian's tend to shorten words, and dropped the 'o'.
HemaShah
these possums look cuter than our opossums....

Spotted for Missions

Mission
Marsupials of the World
Photographed
PublishedMay 29, 2011

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