Remember this?
With extraordinary timing, a reader has posted a comment on a previous post. Why is the timing significant? First we need to go back in time about five or six months ……..
I am sitting in my living area, or lounge as I used to call it, it is a late at night and everyone else is asleep. I am chilling out watching drivel TV, I am in my favourite armchair and my head is probably tilting somewhat to the left. My jaw is relaxed and my mouth may be slightly open. But that’s not important right now. Let’s just say I am relaxing.
Out of the corner of my eye I see something move. I look over at the window. And there it is. A cat? I look at him. He looks at me. Time freezes momentarily. To break the ice, I wave. With that, the cat? turns and runs.
I don’t know if you’d have noticed, but when a cat runs, you just know it is a cat. Cats glide. Cats move in only the way cats can. And whatever had just run off, wasn’t a cat. All I had seen was its white furry head with a black patch across his face and pointy sticking out ears. I had no idea what it was. So I went to grab my “Wildlife of Greater Brisbane’ book to find out.
Now, back to that extraordinary timing. As you know I am working through a category called “Australia’s Bad Things”. It may surprise you to know that I plan ahead wherever I can. So I have a list of intruders that have trespassed on my land or entered my house. This list is already arranged in the order in which I want to blog them. Starting with the cutest and working up to the nastiest, scariest and deadliest.
Before I had the chance to open that list to see which intruder I was due to write about today, I received an e-mail notification that a comment had been added to my blog called “Strange Australian Back Garden Beastie Sounds” – where I had posted the video now at the top of this page.
I said I’d like to hear from anyone who recognises the sound. And this was the message I received from Christine this morning…..
Comment:
That sound is coming from a brush tail possum. They make that noise when there is another possum around, its a warning sound made to another possum invading his territory. Sometimes they fight and the sound get worse.
Comment:
Oh and btw its not the sound of dragging its the possums growl 
And you guessed it! When I looked to see which intruder I was going to be talking about today, the next on the list was “possum”.
Cute & Cuddly Possum
Cute huh? Possums are marsupials and as Christine pointed out, they are very territorial. They feed on leaves, buds, flowers and fruits and they are the size of a cat. They are also, I believe, a protected species. It is illegal to remove one from your premises. So I guess that makes my possum neither an intruder or a trespasser. It seems he just “lives here too”.
There’s no point in evicting him anyway, he is the one that stops other possums moving in. I know, I heard it. And Christine kindly explained it.
Not So Cute
And this is what they look like when they are cornered by a dog. Still cute? Or an Australian Bad Thing?
Update:
As several people have pointed out, neither of these are native Australian possums. They are both American opossums.
So I brush myself down, took it on the chin and simply wrote another post. Check it out here…
Possums and Opossums: Australia and America. All Explained.
Related posts:
- Strange Australian Back Garden Beastie Sounds Part 2
- Strange Australian Back Garden Beastie Sounds
- Strange Beastie Sounds in My Friends’ Back Gardens
- Possums and Opossums: Australia and America. All Explained.
- The Australian Art of “Pottering in the Garden”
{ 9 comments… read them below or add one }
Those look like American possums our possum are much much more cuter and dont have big pointy teeth at all. They dont look nasty like those ones.
This is pictures of the brushtail possum
http://images.google.com.au/images?hl=en&q=brushtail%20possums&um=1&ie=UTF-8&sa=N&tab=wi
this is sugar gliders, they are small with black and white face
http://images.google.com.au/images?hl=en&um=1&sa=1&q=australian+gliders&btnG=Search+Images&aq=f&oq=
One more it could have been a ringtail possum http://images.google.com.au/images?hl=en&um=1&sa=1&q=ringtail+possum&btnG=Search+Images&aq=f&oq=
There is a variety of possums that it could have been but the most common in brisbane yard is the brushtail possum, some are almost a creamy colour. We have them living in our laundry, and they like to eat the apple we give them.
@Christine
Hi Christine
It is comforting to know that the possums I have in my garden are probably cuter than the ones shown here. I got these images from Flickr under a creative Commons license, so it is very likely they are American.
What I’d really like to do is take a photograph of my very own Possum family in my own garden. Any tips on how I can lure them into view?
A bit of peanut butter is a great attractant for some of them, Bobinoz. Most fresh fruit (banana, apple, pear etc) work well, too. So does fruit cake.
I warn you though, once they start appreciating your culinary offerings they can be hard to get rid of. Be careful about getting too close , too. The same applies to any wild animal, but the claws of a brushtailed possum can do real damage, and their teeth can take the end of your finger off.
Hi Rod
I’m afraid I haven’t heard the delicate sound of my possum lately, I’ve got a feeling he has moved on to somewhere else. I suppose there is one advantage to that, I get to keep all of my peanut butter for myself!
Got to say, I miss him though.
Cheers!
If you want to attract them, plant a flowering eucalypts- your local nursery will know which ones are native to your area. As a bonus, you’ll get birds and gliders too!
And I must say, those American opossums are NOT cute! Urgh!
Sarah, that’s a good idea but if I plant eucalyptus, wont I get inundated by koala’s? A sleepin’ and a chewin’ all day?
Seriously though, I may well do that, it’d be nice to get my possum (or any possum) back.
Yes, I’m afraid America has an ugly possum problem.
Totally the wrong pictures there. Those are Opossums, which are not found in Australia, and a completely different animal from Australian Possums.
Flickr’s Creative Commons search tool will show you more correct picture candidates to use if you use ‘brushtail possum’ as keywords. eg: http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=brushtail+possum&l=4
Sarah’s comment of planting more native trees and bushes is worth following up on if you want to attract and keep Possums in your area. There’s a variety of flowering and quick growing native bushes that will attract native birds and other fauna, which will also attract possums.
To answer your question though, it’s unlikely (in the extreme) that you’d attract Koalas unless you plant the specific trees they like, AND wait the 20-odd years it’d take to grow, plus it’s unlikely there’s any nearby to attract – unless you happen to be right up against a national park or similar.
Possums, however, are adaptable and prolific and even live in the central parks in Sydney.
Possums can, though, become a nuisance – they like nesting in hollowed out trees. Failing that – the roof cavity of your home will also do just fine if there’s any minute gap they can fit through.
If you’ve got a corrugated metal roof, you’ll likely notice their presence immediately. It’ll sound as though an entire herd of elephants are playing rugby on the roof. Seriously, for such a small creature they really do have disproportionately large footsteps.
Once we had a small family of four or five possums playing and fighting on the roof one night for long enough that I had to go outside, grab the hose, and drive them off to get any sleep.
Good luck.
Hi Will
Thanks for letting me know about these incorrect pictures, although it has already been pointed out to me. That resulted in a new blog post with proper Australian possums in it. You can read that one here …..
Possums and Opossums
I’m going to make a short update to the post in a minute to explain that.
As for waiting 20 years for those trees to grow, for a man my age, that’s cutting it a little fine. I’ll have to settle for seeing koalas at North Stradbroke Island or in other peoples back gardens.
Funnily enough, I do have a corrugated metal roof and I have heard that sound. About three o’clock in the morning mostly, frightened the life out of me at first! You’re right, they have unusually heavy feet the such small creatures. They should learn from cats.
Cheers!
Bob