Possum

I decided to sit on the Alexander Suspension Bridge for a pee!

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This is the same little possum as I photographed for the last post, but tonight she decided to use one of the towers as a viewing platform and toilet. Being arboreal possums climb and take advantage of the rails and wires that are strung across the south Esk River to form the Alexander suspension bridge. With absolutely no fear of height this little possum is has climbed up the 10 metre newly painted highly slick finish of the bridge just to have a pee! Fortunately I saw the long lasting stream dripping down which caused me to look up and see this little female in action before I passed under the tower!
Olympus OM5 75mm ƒ1.8 @ 2.8 1/40 ISO 6400 Illumination from headlight.

Cyclops the possum

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Cyclops is a brush tail possum he left his mothers pouch late last year or early in 2024 he or perhaps she has a damaged right eye the fur is thin under the eye showing some scar tissue. I’m guessing it was caught by a claw from another possum or animal although most other creatures tend to avoid possums but I have seen larger male pademelons take a swipe at them and they also have formidable claws. From observation of Cyclops’s movements my guess is that he is totally blind in the right eye he is also much smaller than possums born in the same season and when we first encountered him he was not in the best condition. Even though he can climb trees very quickly he is at a disadvantage I have noticed that when climbing he has crashed into branches in his path. Possums are much maligned in Tasmania because they certainly cause damage to any fruit or nut trees. In urban areas they do like to break into attics and are often to heard chasing, fighting and bonking on roofs. As a result their major predators are humans, dogs and even cats when young.