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Today on Animal Fact Files we’re discussing common ringtail possums. This marsupial is native to eastern Australia, including Tasmania. They live in a variety of habitats including dense, tangled forests and shrublands as well as rainforests and even urban settings. It's not uncommon to see a common ringtail possum in a backyard garden or city park, it's in the name after all! Of course, sightings are almost exclusively at night because these little mammals are nocturnal. At night, the common ringtail possum becomes most active, spending the early hours grooming and foraging. After a brief rest, it resumes its search for food before retiring to its nest before dawn.

With a 30 centimeter, foot long, body length and a prehensile tail measuring about the same, the common ringtail possum is approximately cat-sized, although it's significantly lighter at about 900 grams, 2 pounds. Its coloration varies based on location, with coastal populations generally displaying darker tones, such as rich browns and oranges, while lighter grey individuals are found in drier inland forests. Distinctive white ear tufts and a white patch behind the eyes add to its charming appearance. It has a pale belly, and a defining feature of this marsupial is its white-tipped tail which lends to its common name. The tail is bald underneath near the tip, allowing it to grip branches securely. When not in use, the tail often curls into a spiral.

While foraging at night, the common ringtail possum’s diet primarily consists of leaves, particularly eucalyptus species, as well as sap However, this vertebrate is an opportunistic feeder, supplementing its meals with fruits and flowers, including those from introduced plants such as roses and oranges. Digesting a diet heavy in leaves requires a highly specialized system. The possum’s large colon hosts bacteria that ferment the chewed up plant material. This is then excreted in a soft stool that's re-eaten and passed back through the digestive system a second time. Yes, they do eat their own poop. After completing this course, the remaining waste is pooped out in a hard fecal pellet. This is not eaten and kept away from the nest.

The common ringtail possum leads a largely arboreal life, rarely setting foot on the ground. It constructs spherical nests called dreys from twigs, leaves, and shredded bark or grass. These materials are often carried around by the prehensile tail. These nests, often the size of a soccer ball, can be nestled within hollow tree limbs, dense undergrowth, or mistletoe clusters as high as 25 meters, 82 feet, above the ground. Each possum may maintain up to eight dreys within its home range, and some individuals share nests for warmth and security. Despite its remarkable climbing ability, enabled by its prehensile tail, the possum faces numerous threats. Predators such as domestic cats, red foxes, pythons, and large birds often target the young. Habitat loss due to deforestation and urban expansion further compounds their vulnerability, as do collisions with vehicles and attacks by domestic dogs in suburban areas. It also has a slow reproductive rate.

A male common ringtail possum typically has a home range twice the size of a female’s and may maintain bonds with multiple females while avoiding other males. Breeding occurs from April to November, with litters of one or two offspring—although up to four have been recorded—born after a short gestation period of just 15 days. The newborns attach themselves to one of the mother’s posterior nipples in her forward-facing pouch, where they stay for 120 days before emerging. Once out of the pouch, the young ride on their parents’ backs during foraging trips and are cared for by both the mother and father, with the father often staying behind to groom and protect them while the mother leaves to forage. The babies are weaned by six months and disperse between eight and twelve months of age, reaching sexual maturity around one year old.

Common ringtail possums can live to be about five years old in the wild as long as they can avoid predation and other threats. They're usually rather quiet, but they can make high-pitched twittering vocalizations if in duress or communicating with nearby family members. Here's an example of what they sound like: (rapid chirping)

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