It is with great pleasure that we announce the arrival of a baby possum in your Adelaide Park Lands.

Our Ph D university researcher, Tara McKenzie has reported that:

I am continuing to trap in the Park Lands weekly and we now have 9 individuals tagged.

A few weeks ago I caught the first female I have recorded with pouch young measuring at only one week old!

This is a great sign but has been interesting to see that the breeding season is a bit delayed compared to the Riverland and agricultural possums I am looking at.

For example, the Riverland possums I captured at the end of September were already measuring at around a month old.

We have also been commonly observing abnormal fur growth on the majority of the Parklands possums (see photos below).

We think this is a result of a previous attack and subsequent fur regrowth but are still investigating if it could be a sign of disease or parasites. 

The two pics above are from different possums but we’ve seen this on the majority we have caught.

I am just working on a map of the transects I will cover in my upcoming spotlighting survey of the Park Lands.

See Tara’s earlier reports on her Ph D work tracking and monitoring possums in your Park Lands.

• Stay-at-home possums: scared or contented? (4 October 2023);

• Playing possum (12 May 2023); and

• Possum magic (14 June 2023)