 Photo: C & D
Frith
Australia's Wet Tropics
Rainforest Life |
Lemuroid Ringtail Possum: Hemibelideus lumuroides
- Woolly grey dorsal side, brownish tinge on the shoulders with a yellowish tinge
on the underside
- Tail is bushy, only slightly tapered with a short finger-like, bare tip.
- It has a short face with a bright yellow eye shine.
- Leaps onto foliage.
- Sparse and limited in distribution.
- Adults of both sexes have a strong musky odour produced by a sticky
cream-coloured fluid which is often excreted from the vent when the animal is handled.
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Habitat:
- Invariably arboreal. Lives in the rainforest at about four hundred and fifty
metres altitude.
- Strictly nocturnal, its days are spent in tree hollows.
- The Lemuroid Ringtail Possum has a leap of two to three metres which is made from
one branch tip to another. Legs outstretched, it lands heavily on dense foliage.
Diet:
- It is almost exclusively a leaf eater, feeding specifically on the foliage of the
families Lauraceae (e.g. Queensland Maple), Elaeocapaceae (e.g Brown
Quandong) and Rutaceae (e.g. Bollywood).
- Flowers of the Brown Bollywood and the fleshy outer covering of the Yellow
Walnut.
Social Behaviour:
- These animals are frequently seen in groups of two or in family groups of three.
- Up to three individuals may share a den.
- Feeding aggregations of eight individuals have been recorded.
Viewing Opportunities:
- The Lemuroid Ringtail Possums tend to stay in rainforests above 900 metres.
- They can be viewed with spotlights in the the Crater National Park.
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