Chambers Wildlife Rainforest Lodges
Tropical North Queensland, Australia.
[ Home ] [ Up ] [ Next ]
[ Site Map ] [ Wildlife Search Engine ]

• Colours can vary from almost black to pale fawn above, with white chests and bellies
• The fawn species tend to have a longitudinal median dark stripe on the head.
• Pointed face
• Tapered tail.
• Fairly sparse and limited in distribution.

Habitat:

• The Herbert River Ringtail Possum lives above an altitude of about three hundred metres in the dense rainforest of North Queensland.
• An arboreal animal, it rarely descends down to the ground.
• Strictly a nocturnal animal, tree hollows are the favoured daytime resting site as well as large clumps of epiphytic ferns.

• The bulk of its diet is received from rainforest leaves, but it occassionally eats fruits such as the Silver Quandong and flowers of trees such as the Bumpy Satin Ash.

Social Behaviour:

• It is a solitary animal, dens are not shared by adults.
• Groups of two or three have been seen in the same tree at night, but this is probably due to the males being attracted to females on heat.
• Vocally, adults give a buccal click under stress and a variety of screeches and grunts when antagonised.

• At Chambers Wildlife Rainforest Lodge when there is new growth on the closest large tree to lodge 4, Herbert River Ringtail Possums can be seen feeding. Sightings are also common along the top road.
• Can also be viewed, with a spotlight, at the Crater National Park, on the Malanda falls Environmental Park walking paths, The Curtain Fig Tree and along the roadway on Thomas Road.