Striped Possum


Posted by ChrisRoss on Tue Jun 21, 2022 8:51 am

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Striped Possum Dactylopsila trivirgata

Striped possum, from Chambers wildlife lodge in the Atherton tablelands.

Fairly common but difficult to observe as they tend to stay up high and move very fast in the rainforest canopy, they can be photographed at Chambers as they come down to lick honey that is place don the tree trunks each night.  They are said to emit a powerful unpleasant odour.

They eat wood boring grubs and have elongated claw like an Aye-Aye that they use to help extract grubs, they chew through the wood to reach grubs and detects them by rapidly drumming on branches with its claws.  They are more common in New Guinea than Australia. I believe this is probably the first striped possum posted here.  Body about 200mm long and tail 300mm.

Larger image: Striped Possum

OM-1 + 300mm f4 + FL-900R flash on off camera bracket

1/100@ f8 ISO200
Chris Ross
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by david fletcher on Tue Jun 21, 2022 9:16 am
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Excellent sighting Chris. Can't recall ever seeing one of these here either. Love the composition.
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by bobmcrae on Tue Jun 21, 2022 11:41 am
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Thank you for posting a photo of an animal I have never seen before. I like the composition also. Nice photo.
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by Carol Clarke on Tue Jun 21, 2022 2:34 pm
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I'm fairly certain its a first for Naturescapes, Chris - and a fine image! Interesting information on the species too, I thought the Aye-Aye was unique with its probing elongated claw and tapping to find the bugs......... I learn something new every day!

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by Cynthia Crawford on Wed Jun 22, 2022 4:29 pm
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Great to see this unusual animal and appreciate the story. A really nice shot-thanks for sharing and the enlightenment.
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