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Brushtail possums may eat three or four different plant species during a foraging trip, unlike some other arboreal marsupials, such as the koala and the greater glider, which focus on single species. The brushtail possum's rounded molars cannot cut Eucalyptus leaves as finely as more specialised feeders. They are more adapted to crushing their ...
Six species of phalangeriformes, clockwise from the top left: greater glider (Petauroides volans), sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps), common spotted cuscus (Spilocuscus maculatus), feathertail glider (Acrobates pygmaeus), eastern pygmy possum (Cercartetus nanus), and common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula)
The Phalangeridae are a family of mostly nocturnal marsupials native to Australia, New Guinea, and Eastern Indonesia, including the cuscuses, brushtail possums, and their close relatives. Considered a type of possum, most species are arboreal, and they inhabit a wide range of forest habitats from alpine woodland to eucalypt forest and tropical ...
The species are commonly known as possums, opossums, [3] gliders, and cuscus. The common name "(o)possum" for various Phalangeriformes species derives from the creatures' resemblance to the opossums of the Americas (the term comes from Powhatan language aposoum "white animal", from Proto-Algonquian * wa·p-aʔɬemwa "white dog"). [ 4 ]
Habitat and dietary requirements of both the mountain brushtail possum and the short-eared possum are reported to be more specialised than those of their close relative the common brushtail possum, T. vulpecula. [10] As a result, the common brushtail possum has been able to colonise a greater variety of habitats than either of its bobuck relatives.
The northern brushtail possum eats a variety of plant matter, including fruit, leaves, flowers, and seeds. [5] Brushtail possums are known to be tolerant of many plant toxins and can eat tree leaves that other animals find poisonous. Possums also eat insects, moths, grubs, snails, birds’ eggs, and chicks.
Cuscus (/ ˈ k ʌ s k ʌ s / or / ˈ k uː s k uː s /) is the common name generally given to the species within the four genera of Australasian possum [1] of the family Phalangeridae with the most tropical distribution: Ailurops; Phalanger; Spilocuscus; Strigocuscus
In general, they are more terrestrially oriented than other possums, and in some ways might parallel primates. The genus contains these species: Northern brushtail possum, T. arnhemensis; Short-eared possum, T. caninus; Mountain brushtail possum, T. cunninghami; Coppery brushtail possum, T. johnstonii; Common brushtail possum, T. vulpecula