AI listening devices could help find New Zealand’s last remaining possums – but only if they don’t mistake bird calls for pests. Here’s how a new fix works.
Articles on Possums
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In Australia, people tend to think carnivores lead the clean-up crew after an animal dies. But brushtail possums – thought to be plant-eaters – also eat carcasses.
Marsupial rescue, rehabilitation and release statistics from New South Wales and Kangaroo Island during Black Summer fires reveal poor survival rates, despite the courageous efforts of volunteers.
Many measures commonly thought to reduce the toll of animals injured and killed on our roads aren’t effective. But there is evidence to support other solutions.
It can be hard and costly to collect data on the threats to species at specific locations. Wildlife emergency response services have long-running records for hundreds of species that suffered harm.
Australia’s Red Centre was once a lush forest filled with strange creatures – and we are slowly discovering more about this enigmatic past.
When they set up remote cameras throughout the bush, scientists were not expecting to capture these small marsupials scavenging for flesh.
A new paper explores how a carefully controlled fuel reduction burn killed 17 critically endangered western ringtail possums.
Almost half of the rehabilitated possums in our study were killed by foxes shortly after release. Keeping wildlife wild during rescue is hard – but necessary.
When a plant is stressed, it mobilises its resources and often converts its starch reserves back to sugar. As soon as this happens, the stressed plant becomes sweeter than its healthier neighbours.
When a big old tree dies or is cut down, even if we plant a new one we might have to wait hundreds of years before it provides a good possum house.
Billions of bogong moths are setting out from Queensland, but not reaching Victoria. We need citizen scientists to help figure out where they’re ending up.
Giving female marsupials a sniff of prospective partners increases the chance of a successful love connection.
Tularemia is an animal disease that can be transmitted to humans. While it can be fatal, it is rare in Australia and can be treated with antibiotics.
Grunting, growling, hissing, screeching: if your home is making these noises, you probably have possums.
Top contributors
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Honorary Research Associate, University of Sydney
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Associate Professor, Global Ecology, University of Sydney
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Associate professor, University of Sydney
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Lecturer, Environmental Science, School of Life and Environmental Science, Faculty of Science, Engineering and Built Environment, Deakin University
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Professor Emeritus in Terrestrial Ecology, University of Sydney
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Professor, Flinders University
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PhD Student, UNSW
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Director Wildlife Conservation and Science, Zoos Victoria, The University of Melbourne
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Honorary Research Associate in BioSciences, The University of Melbourne
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Professor of Behavioural Ecology, University of Sydney
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Senior Research Associate, School of Agriculture, Food and Ecosystem Sciences, The University of Melbourne
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Postdoctoral research associate, University of Sydney
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PhD candidate, Flinders University
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Research fellow in spider crab ecology, Deakin University
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Research Associate, University of New South Wales, and Adjunct Associate Professor, Curtin University