Brushtail Possum
Taken on the way back to the car from the Goodwill Bridge after the Australia Day Fireworks.
There was about a half dozen brushtail possums in the Botanic Gardens all together. This is one of them having a feed off something on the path.
View all photos taken: Friday, 26th January 2007, This photo: 8:04pm
It looks like a cross between a fox and a cub.
Doesn't look like he is starved either, a Dave?
Not shy then?
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Seen on your photo stream. (?)
hehehe They're about the size of a fat cat Margot. Quite strong, very sharp claws and eat just about anything (well ok, not as bad as a goat). They're also a marsupial, so the mother has a pouch she rears her young in .
Definitely not starved Kev, but then being a city possum, there's no shortage of food left by humans.
Not shy at all Nelly!
and a really strong bite too....
this one looks very tame.... our possums are very cautious of being seen on the ground in the night... they scurry up the closest tree!
Yeah these City possums were very tame looking. Some tourists were even patting them (not that I'd try that, never know when they might bite you and what disease they might be carrying).
Yeh Ive heard they can inflict a very nasty bite
Still cute though :)
VERY CUTE!!! But yeh, I got a bite once when I was feeding our possums... he thought my finger smelt better than the apple core I was holding... it drew blood, but I betadine-ed it and I'm not dead yet.... ;)
Just as well we don't have rabies in Australia eh? ;-)
:)
by the look of that bare patch on its tail these must be pretty good at climbing about in trees, it is cute !
Yep, they are indeed Helen. They primarily live in trees and only really come down (usually) to drink or feed (if their tree doesn't contain enough food), or to change trees. Much more likely to be seen on the ground than a koala, but still not too common.
In the suburbs, they're known for living in peoples roofs!
LOL!! we get mice in ours, and when they manage to get onto the ceilings and run across them- the noise is quite loud, these must be very noisy !!!
I don't think the word "noisy" really does that phenomenon justice. A family of possums in the roof are definitely a racket! Not to mention the when they jump from a nearby tree onto your tin roof - sounds like half a tree has fallen on the roof!
Luckily out my way there's enough natural places to live that we shouldn't get possums on or in our roof anytime soon. :)
Possums often walk down the verandah outside my window - at night - and their footsteps are as loud as a person's!
Yep, they're surprisingly loud for something not much bigger than a cat.
Wonderful !! I would jump out of my skin ! We once stayed at an isolated farmhouse in Wales, all around the house they had laid great slabs of slate for paths and patio. we were woken the first night , we thought we had a prowler, on investigation there was a flock of sheep tap dancing their way around the house !! Well it sounded like tap dancing anyway !!
your possums have flat feet - perhaps thats why they sound loud !! : D
hehehe tap dancing sheep ;-)
Could be with the flat feet but personally I think they're powered by neutron stars, thus they are a lot more dense than they look ;-)