Feathertail Glider

Acrobates pygmaeus

Identification:

Body length 80 mm; tail length 80 mm; weight 13 g. Mouse-sized; grey-brown back; white belly; tail like a small feather (a feature found in no other Australian mammal).

Habitat and Range:

Wet and dry eucalypt forests, parks and backyard gardens. Rarely seen, but reasonably common in bushy outer suburbs. Eastern Australia to south-east SA.

Notes:

Similar to House Mouse. Nocturnal. A miniscule gliding possum that lives in family groups (parents plus last one or two litters) numbering up to a dozen. While foraging for nectar, gum, sap and insects, the glider careers around treetops and trunks more like a large insect than a marsupial. Commonly nests in electricity meter boxes, telephone junction covers and banana bags.

Theats:

Cats.

Traces:

Difficult to detect in wild; droppings are like those of the House Mouse , but are pointed at both ends (5 mm long by 2 mm wide).

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