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Eastern pygmy possum - CERCARTETUS NANUS
Possibly Endangered
Class: Animals with Milk Glands (Mammalia)
The Name "Possum": The word "opossum" was taken from the Algonquian Indian word for the animal. Although other animals in South America and Australia are called "possums," they are not closely related to the Virginia animal, and only derive their name by dint of a generally similar shape. True opossums are unique to North America. The Latin name means "dwarf cercartetus," whatever a "cercartetus" might be. The word is unknown.
Location: Southernmost Australia and Tasmania. Six species of pygmy possums are known, two of which inhabit New Guinea.
Habitat: Arboreal. Eucalypt forests.
Description: The pygmy possum is a tiny mouselike possum with large ears and a long prehensile tail. It has a soft woolly coat, gray on the back and white on the belly. Its head and body length is 3.4"to 4", and it weighs 0.5 to 1.0 oz.
Behavior: This solitary, arboreal possum is nocturnal in habit. The pygmy possum nests in small hollows or knotholes, using a soft bark for nesting material, which it will collect from as far away as a quarter of a mile if necessary. It eats nectar and insect larvae, but is also able to catch beetles and moths in flight and eat them. Its activity is conditioned by outside temperatures, so the pygmy possum eats little in winter and grows thin, but in the summer months its body and tail become swollen with fat from the big meals. It can hibernates during cold weather for a few days at a time curled into a tight ball. Although it uses its tail to grasp twigs on occassion, when not in use it may keep the tail tightly coiled.
Reproduction: Pygmy possums breed in the spring and have a maximum of four young per litter.
Go to the Marsupials Page to get a general discussion of these animals.
Or go to the Opossum Index to study more opossums.
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