Leadbeater's Possum - Habits

Habits

Leadbeater's possums are rarely seen: they are nocturnal, small (about 10 cm long and about 90 grams), fast-moving, and occupy the upper story of some of the tallest forests in the world. They live in small family colonies of up to 24 individuals, usually a breeding pair, their offspring, and sometimes an unrelated extra male or two. All members sleep together in a nest made out of shredded bark in a tree hollow, anywhere from 6 to 30 metres above ground level and roughly in the centre of a territory of 10,000 to 20,000 square metres, which they defend actively. The senior female is the main defender: she is more active in expelling outsiders, and attacks her daughters when they reach sexual maturity at about 14 months of age, forcing them to disperse earlier than male children. In consequence, mortality among young female Leadbeater's possums is high—average female lifespan is little more than 27 months, as opposed to about 10 years in captivity.

Solitary Leadbeater's possums have difficulty surviving: when young males disperse at about 15 months of age, they tend to either join another colony as a supernumerary member, or gather together into bachelor groups while they await an opportunity to find a mate.

At dusk, Leadbeater's possums emerge from the nest and spread out to forage in the canopy, often making spectacular leaps from tree to tree (they require continuous understory to travel). Their diet is omnivorous: they take a range of saps and exudates, lerps, and a high proportion of arthropods which they find under the loose bark of eucalypts: spiders, crickets, beetles, and the like. Plant exudates make up 80% of their energy intake, but the protein provided by the arthropods is essential for successful breeding.

Births are usually timed for the beginning of winter (May and June) or late spring (October and November). Most litters are of one or two young, which stay in the pouch for 80 or 90 days, and first emerge from the nest about three weeks after that. Young, newly independent Leadbeater's possums are very vulnerable to owls.