Flying foxes and Brushtail Possums are the most common buddy you might see in trees in your backyard. If you are very lucky you may see everyone’s favourite tree dwelling Aussie mammal – the koala.
Then there is also the mysterious tree kangaroo. Tree kangaroos really are kangaroos that live in trees.
You can recognise a Brushtail Possum by its thick, bushy tail which distinguishes it from the smaller Ringtail Possum. Brushtails live in backyards and the bush all across Australia and are frequent backyard visitors. If your resident possum is feasting on your flower beds, plant a good selection of native shrubs for them to feed on instead and this may stop them eating all your rosebuds. To discourage possums from running ove…
The Grey-headed Flying-fox gets its name from its grey, furry head but it also has a bright orange neck. If you imagine them without wings, they really do look just like little foxes. Also called 'Fruit Bats' they actually prefer to eat pollen and nectar rather than fruit. The Grey-headed Flying-fox often travels 20 to 50 km from their daytime roost to find food. They eat nectar from flowering gums and banksias, Lilly Pilly fr…
Koalas are marsupials that live in eucalypt forests in New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia. Koalas are fussy eaters, eating only a few types of eucalypt leaves. They eat up to one kilogram of leaves each day. Their diet consists mainly of a certain type of eucalyptus leaf which is poisonous to other animals. From a young age, Koala joeys are fed a form of fecal matter called pap that helps them to digest …
Microbats are mammals - the only mammals capable of flying a sustained distance. During summer and autumn, microbats go into a feeding frenzy as they fatten up on insects to help them survive the winter. Once the nights become cooler and the insects disappear, microbats lower their body temperature and go into a state of mini hibernation until their food returns in spring. Microbats can eat as much as 40% of their own body wei…
Sugar Gliders live in the trees and glide between them using flaps of skin between their front and back legs. These small marsupials live in eastern and northern Australia and nest in tree hollows or nest boxes. Adults can weigh as little as 150 grams. They are grey to brown with a prominent dark stripe over their foreheads, and have prehensile tails which they use to grip on to branches. In June, sugar gliders begin mating. T…
Tree kangaroos really are kangaroos that live in trees. They are marsupials and macropods and are the largest tree-dwelling mammal in Australia. In Australia, they live in far north Queensland. Other tree kangaroo species live in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia. The two Australian species are the Lumholtz's and the Bennett’s tree kangaroo. They do look like kangaroos but have shorter legs, strong forearms and very long tails.…
