Western ringtail possum

The western ringtail possum or ngwayir is a species of possum found in a small area of Southwest Australia. They are a cat-sized marsupial with a stocky build, dark greyish-brown fur, pale underparts and a long prehensile tail with a whitish tip. Ngwayir forage at night through the upper canopy of trees, feeding on young leaves, flowers and fruit, especially in groves of the weeping peppermint Agonis flexuosa. Breeding occurs mainly during the winter, the single juvenile emerging from the pouch after about three months. The population has declined by more than 95% since British settlement, due to clearing of habitat, fire and the introduction of the red fox Vulpes vulpes, and is classified as Critically Endangered. The population in most areas has catastrophically declined or become locally extinct, but strongholds remain in the urbanised areas near Busselton and Albany.

Taxonomy

A description of the species was published in 1888 by Oldfield Thomas in a systematic review of specimens held at the British Museum of Natural History. The common name assigned by Oldfield Thomas in his description of P. occidentalis was western ring-tailed phalanger. ==Description==

Description

Western ringtails are largely-arboreal marsupials smaller than the size of a domestic cat, with stocky bodies, grasping feet and a strong, prehensile tail. The profile of the black back and rump slopes toward a prehensile tail that tapers to a fine white point. The species has a head and body length of 320–400 mm, a tail length of 300–400 mm, and a weight of 750 to 1350 g. Pseudocheirus occidentalis has dark grey-brown-black fur with light patches behind the ears and a creamy white, sometimes greyish, colour at the underside of the body that extends to the chest and throat. It differs from the common ringtail possum found on the east of the continent, by lacking any rufous colouration in the fur. ==Distribution and habitat==

Distribution and habitat

The western ringtail is endemic to south-western Western Australia where it is now found in three main areas; the Swan Coastal Plain, Southern Forests around Manjimup, and the South Coast between Walpole and Cheynes Beach. Archaeological records and known locations estimate a historical range that extended southwest from Geraldton to the Hampton Tableland, 200 km west of the border of South Australia. ==Behaviour==

Behaviour

The western ringtail is an arboreal and nocturnal herbivore with a relatively small home range of 0.5-6 ha, dependent on habitat type. It uses tree hollows and builds dreys for shelter in tree canopies, their nest-like drey is an assemblage of shredded bark, twigs and leaves. Western ringtails were recorded investigating the bridge while it was still under construction, and the first crossing was recorded one month after construction was completed. During the study period, western ringtails were recorded crossing up to nine crossings per night, although less frequently when weather or moonlight inhibited their movements, and its use was adopted by juveniles who had been carried across by their mother. The success of the rope bridge was greater than anticipated when compared to rope bridge adoption by possums and gliders in similar programs. ==Conservation==

Conservation

Three "key management zones" have been identified as known to support significant numbers of western ringtail possums. These include the Swan Coastal Plain, Southern Forests around Manjimup, and the South Coast between Walpole and Cheynes Beach. However since then, surveys of over 40 public reserves across the south-west have found more than 20,000 western ringtail possums. In addition, western ringtails are known to reside in many cities, towns, and rural areas including Albany, Busselton, and Dunsborough. == References ==

Source: Wikipedia ↗

tickerdossier.com tickerdossier.substack.com