
(Trichosurus cunninghami)
Mountain Brushtail Possums are a little larger than the Common Brushtail Possum, weighing between 2.5kg to 4.5kg. They also have some other features that distinguish them from the Common Brushtail Possum. Their ears are slightly smaller and more rounded, and are usually darker in colour.
Habitat
Mountain Brushtail Possums are found within the tall forest of the Great Dividing Range and along the coast from south-east Queensland to New South Wales and Victoria. They are patchily distributed and prefer to inhabit dense subtropical rainforests, wet sclerophyll and also tall eucalypt forests.
Diet
The Mountain Brushtail Possum's diet consists mainly of plant food such as leaves, fruits, berries, flowers, bark, fungi and lichens.
Breeding
Their reproductive cycle is very similar to that of the Common Brushtail Possum. They become sexually mature at around two years of age, but rarely breed in this first year.
Comunication
Possums communicate with each other in different ways, including using smells, sounds and visuals. Some sounds they use are hisses, clicks, guttural coughs and screeching. The noises of the Common Brushtail Possum are very similar to that of the Mountain Brushtail. They also have a variety of scent glands that provide each other with information such as identity, sex, and whether they are in season. They have around 11 scent-producing glands which are found on their sternum and cloaca, in their mouth and pouch, under their chin, on their ears and in between their digits.