A Guide to Australia's Possums
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- čas přidán 13. 09. 2024
- Darkness has fallen, billions must climb. We're looking at Australia's cute parkour inclined marsupials. But what is a possum anyway? As you'll discover, they don't fit neatly into one category. As much as these little critters give us the s***s, they've won us over with their adorable antics.
You can support the Mountain pygmy possum through Australian Conservation Foundation's adopt a possum program:
support.acf.or...
00:23 - What is a possum?
02:59 - Brushtail possums
06:42 - Ringtail possums
09:21 - The other possum species
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If you're interested in supporting the Mountain pygmy possum, Australian Conservation Foundation has an adopt a possum program. I've signed up because learning about these little guys got me invested in the their story arc and I hope it has a happy ending.
support.acf.org.au/adopt-a-possum
All the Possums in the Area loved your Lecture .....they are really Aliens in disguise .
😂I thought I'd learn something new. But for ages I have been wondering why the possums go to this certain NZ native fur tree and scratching off the bark chips because they aren't eating the leaves, I thought they were just cent trees. but there's this bug that gets under the bark,drinks the sap and poos honeydew the possums must be going after them or the sap itself for the sugar content. I use sugar, aniseed oil and flour for my trap luer if any Australians want to try some of that to luer possums to habitats they build for them ....
best aussie doco in years thanks boss
Words cannot describe how much my face lights up when one of your videos drops. It's genuinely very refreshing to have someone talk about Aussie wildlife in a way that isn't super sensationalized. Great, incredibly funny work as always! Much love from Turtle Island. 💜
Its seriously good content!
Great!
Agreed!
Well said 🤩
You know this is a true Aussie channel when a Ferals reference is given ❤
"better reception than telstra" "the bar isn't that high" a true australian channel
As I sit in my house, in western Sydney, with no connection, I thank you for your Optus joke
"Burger McQuarterback" is my new favourite term for our American friends.
Perfect little video as always from @The Backyard Naturalist on arguably Australia's most hated animal family. I definitely wasn't expecting so many nostalgia hits with this video!
Thank you old friend
I certainly don't hate them.
We have a number species visiting and living in our yard, and they are more than welcome.
@@lindsaybrown7357Americans or possums? 😉
@@rolandhoward7905 Both are most welcome.
We were happy to see the Americans in WWII.
Possums, or 15 minutes of me saying “awww 🥹🥹”
Same 🥹💖💖💖💖
Hugo Poss designed all the uniforms for the Emu soldiers during the great Emu war.........probably
Possums are cute until they open their mouths lmfao
A face only a xenomorph could love
@the-Backyard-Naturalist it's me, i'm the xenomorph.
Have you ever heard a koala? Talk about a disparity between appearance and noise 😂
I kind of loved their growling outside the window.
@larrykelly-kf5pp it's the shrieks and hellish crash- type bumping over the tin rooftop that's hard to take...
I've no problems with possums here. The Brushtails crash along the garage roof and that's about it. The Ringtails chirp now and then. It's nice to have them around.
The brushies over my back fence get really annoyed when I have a BBQ that goes after dark. Apart from that, more than welcome to the nectarine tree. The green parrots enjoy the seeds they leave behind, win win!
I have had possums live in my ceiling at every house I lived in. It is what it is.
We were visited every night by mum possum and her back riding babe's when I grew up in Tassie. Between them and the Tassie devils, it was a symphony of horror movie sound tracks at night. Ahhhh, it was a great childhood 💖
Your videos crack me up mate.
When I was doing a cashie as young sparky I was crawling in a roof space and heard this god awful screeching/hissing noise. I turned around and faced a possum reared up and ready to rip me a new one. Still haunts me to this day. Haha
I absolutely love all possums, my heart beats harder for Brushies though. For years I lived near them and eventually they showed up at my house, once they get to know u, they are friendly and quite funny too, they have their own ways and personalities. I named all of them and with time I swear they responded accordly. I started to be awake at night, even changed my work schedule to spend time with them. They can be extremely charming if u r worth their trust, when u look into their little eyes you can see there 's someone behind, a magical possum soul! I never minded their sounds at all. I thought actually was super cool, very unique. I just really hope people that live in this country understand how blessed we are to have wildlife around us whereas many poor countries have had their nature stripped out its quite sad.Those possums days (nights lol ) were literally the best ever I missed them very deeply. My life goal now has become to have my own property surrounded by wildlife where they happily can come and go as they wish :')
I love possums. I just wish they wouldn't play chasey on my tin roof at 3am
My god man, LARPing as a biologist is one thing but I didn't know your true calling was in foley. Your sound descriptions were spot fucken on. Forcefully revving a bowl of porridge? You could perform the complete works of Shakespeare using no words at all but the artful descriptions of armpit farts reading the words out in morse code and Old Billy himself would be put to shame over the artistry and clarity of the performance.
some nicknames to try out on your nieces and nephews:
- Possum
- Aussie raccoon
- Cheeky little bastard
- Little fox
- Arboreal feather duster
- Brushy
- Banshees from hell?
- Parcourse pooch
- Annoying Santa Claus
- Proto-possum
- Love child of a rat and a monkey
- Monkey mouse
- Veracious vegan
- Petite anime girl (oh god no)
- Little critter
RiyaSDesai I think what he was saying was Parkour Pooch - those people who do all that wonderful jumping and bouncing off buildings and staircases. Wish I could do it but you have to be young and fit and slightly mad.
Grew up in Aus and moved to NZ as an adult - took a while to sink in that no one here understands possum magic 😔
Yep definitely, rabbits can be "cute" also.
They can be awesome in Oz but they don’t belong in NZ where they wreak havoc on our birds.
@@rossedennz man I wasn't even aware we sent possums over to New Zealand, what a dumb decision that was
whats next? we'll send kangaroos over to America?
The only possum magic I know is the book 😂
@@rossedennzcalm your farm, they're still cute and magical
I’m just commenting for the engagement because this video deserves more views
ENGAGEMENT
ANY CHANCE I GET ACTIVATED A BIT OF THIS ENGAGEMENT ASWEL?
Engaged, and sent the link to my family chat.
This was adorable.
A ringtail once shocked itself on some powerlines above me in Frankston and plummeted onto the footpath, hitting my shoulder as it fell. Swore it was dead, then the tough little bastard got up and ran off before we could even call the RSPCA or vet or anyone
On the farm we had a brush tail going into the back yard eating the fruit trees. Every time we went out to shoot it (we are farmers), it ran to a pipes that connected the water tanks to the house and irrigation . So we couldn't risk shooting and damaging the pipes. This went on for years, so it got to the point where we liked him so much we feed him outside the back door, and called him "you tricky C#$t", or tricky for sort.
Great story! Yes, sometimes it takes a lot less effort to be friends than enemies with individuals like this...
If the tree is trained to keep branches above possum jump height and has a clean bole a ring of metal sheathing about 70mm wide around the trunk prevents 99% of problems, they cannot climb past it.
Spread the word to others ( share a little ) Tricky deserved to win .Never quite sure we deserve to shoot ....
@@pipfox7834 Hmm depends who is the "real " enemy .We have choices re where we live and what we do
Looked at who actually invaded who ?
@HelenaMikas settle, petal 😂
As a wildlife carer, esp a possum carer, I am so happy and excited that you did an episode on our beautiful possums. Also, looking forward to the Glider episode 🙏
I didn’t know what that sound was growing up and I literally thought demons were outside 😭😭
I hear them every night where I live. Sounds menacing when you're not sure at first what it is.
I used to hear cats mating and think the same, terrifying as a kid
I'm so glad I'm not the only one! I kept going outside to check but could never find anything. Only found out it was possums like 10 years later
I remember some years ago during a really hot summer I was gardening with my mum and I had the spade digging and aerating the soil, when I shit you not I suddenly stopped about 2cm away from cutting what looked like a very young ring tailed possum in half with said spade.😰
The only reason I stopped was cause I said to myself.
“Huh that’s a weird looking stick…
OH SHIT THAT’S NOT A STICK STOP” and thank god I stopped in time or I would have had nightmares about it.
😰😭💀
Another quality video your sense of humour is great.👍🏼😂
Honey wake up! New The Backyard Naturalist video is up!
6:18 Notice possum is resting front paws on anti-possum tree guard! 😀
is that what those things are? there were heaps of them in a park in Melbourne. Why would they put them in a park?
@@fionaottley4976 To stop them climbing trees.
Modigliani?? 🤣🤣🤣
Somebody used to watch the Ferals 🤣🤣👍
🤣Made my day🤣 The commentary is brilliant😅🤣😂 authentic Aussie humor. Thank you🤩
More people need to see this🇦🇺
Honestly, the writing for this one was just A1 👌
I misheard their latin name as "little f*cks" and though, "accurate." LOL
Basically the kiwi name for em
A rollicking ride of nocturnal naturalist possum perfection. 14 minutes of celebrating an aussie iconic species :)
Once again you're killing it with the puns
Mate your videos are phenomenal, I'm very grateful
Great video which once again shows that MANKIND is anything. but kind. .Behind every endangered species are people and big business ..Possums are amazing .Thanks so much 🙂
Love our native wildlife. Brushies are awesome, so cute and cheeky. I do see the occasional one around my home but sadly there are a few cats that roam at night. We used to hand feed them bits of Apple when staying at our old caravan. If you are going to feed them make sure it is fruit not rubbish like chips or bread. Just be warned, they will come to rely on you for food and get very cocky to get it including walking into your home, stealing food from the garbage bin or even dinner table.
I live on the beautiful Clarence river in Northern NSW where we have a wide variety of wildlife. Due to the ever expansion of us humans and the erratic weather the wildlife is suffering. My friend has acreage and has planted trees at the back of her property exclusively for the wildlife. It is a wondrous sight to see them up close and personal.
Yess finally some possum content for me and my marsupial homies ❤️
30 years ago I was involved with providing glider possum with safe highway crossings. Always feel privileged to have a possum around the house.
This was fantastic. Would love to see a full episode on Gliders! Feathertail gliders are so cute and weird. I love them.
Yep, Feathertails are about the nicest of out Possum Vermin. Fun to spotlight them flitting about in the blossom in the bush. Retrieved a group of 3 from a small hollow in a downed tree once. Easy to handle - teeth are too small to do damage. Not so the very attractive Sugar Gliders. You need good gloves to handle them. Picked up 1 out of a hollow Forest Oak one day. Chewed the rim off my old bush hat when I tried to constrain him in it. The larger species will also kill and eat their smaller relatives. A biologist friend once had the BBC Wildlife Unit doing a session on the Yellow-bellied Gliders here and their habit of cutting grooves in eucalypts to lap up the bleeding sap. The smaller Sugaries and Feathertails also make use of the bounty when the bigger ones leave. My mate was disappointed that they had just packed up the camera equipment one evening when a Feathertail made the mistake of not checking that the coast was completely clear - and became dinner! 😱🙄
We had pygmy possums living in our garden. Cutest hecking mice ever.
Because I start my job duties in the early hours of each morning, I tend to see the ringtail possums quite frequently. See them scurrying along the powerlines or up and down trees willy nilly. All the noises they make😂
I was having a really rough day. This got me to smile for the first time since I woke up.
The house I rent came with a resident possum. The owner offered to have her removed, but she was here first.
At around 11 every night, she starts her day running around on the tin roof and gets home at around 4 every morning.
She is quite friendly and will hold my finger with her tail while she eats her possum food that my sister gets her.
My sister is a veterinary surgeon who works for a wildlife sanctuary and she even gives my housemate a check-up twice a year.
Having a wild animal just accept you as part of their life is a wonderful feeling.
Oh good, I'm glad I'm not the only one with a possum racing track on their roof. I have a resident brushtail that does countless laps of the roof and occasionally he/she will come down for a visit on my back verandah.
Glad that sombody is spreading knowledge of the diversity of our native species. Too many people just aren't aware how many species of kangaroo, possums and other Aussie animals there are. I think we also have the greatest diversity of pythons. Might be a good video too.
I lived in the city for a lot of years so many possums it was fantastic! Now I live in a regional town and I really really miss those possums. Thanks for reminding me how awesome they are ❤
Best nature channel 🤣
Nothing is more Australian than brushy tail possums fighting the fruit bats in the middle of summer. Good times!
As always, super entertaining and engaging. You literally never miss.
Great to see the channel growing too!
Between my neighbour and I. Well our very old sheds with holes in them. The local possum population is booming! I’ll soon be renovating my old shed. It will no longer be holey. But thanks to it having large eves, there is a place to make permanent boxes. 👍
"Ahh night time, the days hotter goth sister"
Kicking off the video with an absolute banger
Hugo Poss 😂😂
I learnt something. That demon sound you hear at night is actually a brush tail!
The ring tails are ACTUALLY cute!
Live in Brisbane and when they are in your roof space, it is not their noise that is annoying. It is the thunderous stampeding sound that could wake the dead at two o'clock in the morning when they start racing and fighting with each other in the roof space. That and when they sneak into your window and wake up to find them next to your bed staring at you.
We get the stampeding and rough and tumble in the early hours of the night, we have ever since we moved in here 20+ years ago but if I ever woke up to find one beside my bed staring at me I think I would have an actual heart attack!! Hopefully our dogs deter them from wanting to come inside and fair suck of the sav we have never invaded their space in our roof so hopefully they continue to show us the same respect! 😂
i squealed with joy when u finally did a possum vid. genuinely one of my fav youtube channels of all time, every vid is such a treat. u gotta do a vid on gang gangs or other parrots !!
Spat my coffee out on the Wagga reference haha
What a dump!
Everything about your videos makes me smile from the inside out! I love the laid back humour, the wordplay and the ace nostalgic references (Modigliana!)
Plus you have a really nice voice.
All this plus interesting facts that give me an even greater appreciation for the creatures I’ve grown up taking for granted.
You’re one of my favourite people on CZcams and I don’t even know what you look like! 😅
I've always loved possums. Growing up in Australia they were almost everywhere. In the trees, the bushes, our roof. These days they're a lot harder to find, but whenever i do, i feel like I've found a friendly forest spirit that's watching over me from the treetops, and i adore them for that
We have brush tails living in the trees on our farm. We love them and feel very protective of them.
Ah possums, beautiful creatures, as you so accurately said, that sound like hellspawn having digestive issues. Half the time I couldn’t actually tell if the noises were the video or the actual ones that keep escaping into the house, and then we have to attempt to herd them out for the next 20 min. We have so many old trees, bush land and possum boxes around the area, not entirely sure why they prefer our roof but we are working on it. As always your humor and knowledge are as impressive as shit!
that up and go line is wild (this video makes me irrationally happy)
Been watching your videos for months and I cant get enough of the puns. But only just realised that I wasn't subscribed. Correcting that right now.
What a way to return home from an unsatisfying stint in hospital. A good way to up the mood and get a laugh, along with some education. Thank you Backyard Naturalist, I really needed this. Surrounded by the Mount Ku-ring-gai National Park, has opened my nights and early hours of the mornings to the sweet, growling choruses of Brush Tails and Ring Tails for several decades now. The paling fence highway is always in use and the roof above me is a possum dance school that can get a little tedious at times. On occasion I have opened my door, only to find an upside down head looking at me through glowing eyes, before scampering back up onto the guttering. Love our Aussie Possums. So what did I learn? Well, it's hard to choose from so many factoids but I decided upon the simplicity of your preference for your hard wood to be erect, although, I question life's continuance upon that preference. Indeed, this episode is cute, cuddly, sad and amusing and certainly, one I will return to again very soon. 💯
Grant the poet, pouring forth such sweet sounding prose. I hope you're feeling better mate and may the possums watch over you.
Far out, so many classic puns, brilliant, just brilliant bro… thank you…. Great content, great info and classic Aussie puns… I got a share this…so funny…love it!
Always wanted to know about these little freaks!
Little buggers are skinning all my lemons as I watch this 🤣
Assholes ate my rose blossoms.
The Ringtail that lived in the tree behind my house used to wake me up at 5.30 every morning by jumping on the roof from the tree. It was my alarm clock to get up and go to work. I didn't mind at all and now that it doesn't happen any more I miss it. My little alarm clock must have either died or moved somewhere. Their growling never bothered me because it's just what they do and it's not like there is a Grizzly Bear or Polar Bear out there. Just a cute little fluff ball with an unfortunate voice. They are just trying to sound tough as a deterrent. Excellent video.
Impeccable timing- I was just thinking I was really in the mood for one of your vids, opened up CZcams and there it was posted 15 minutes before! I was actually really interested to hear about the Great Forest National Park plan. As someone who lives in the Yarra Valley, I can't believe I hadn't heard of it before!
Loved this, I'd had it in an open tab for weeks and had been putting off watching it as it was a bit long for my TikTok brain. Really glad I watched it now. Fun observation - after a brushtail ate a pile of blue gum leaves in my driveway, he peed on my car what can only be described as eucalyptus superglue. Took me forever to clean it off, it hardened to the point I had to chisel it off. Luckily it only smelt of eucalyptus and not their usual pee.
Not only do we get Possums, we also get many Bandicoots at night 😊
Do the Bandicoots crash through the night?
+1 for a glider video. I made a birdbox for my back yard nearly ten years ago and sugar gliders moved in almost immediately.
Sometimes possums can be a PITA; they’ve figured out how to get a feed from the “Grandpa’s Feeder” in the chook yard; and once I found a female sleeping in it!
Another ripper video mate. So good to see your channel grow to 34k. I think i was your 22nd subscriber!!! Knew your vids were gold straight away. Great narration, great info, and great humour. Keep up the good work, cant wait for the next one. ❤🙏
Thanks for the support dude!
They’re so cute! They like our compost.
I love possums, I lived in Maribyrnong which is named after an aboriginal word for "I can hear a possum" the cute little bastards were everywhere.
Ayyy just yesterday I got to get pretty up close to a possum and it didn't run away from me, what perfect timing. I love possums, gotta be one of my favourite animals.
Thanks for bringing light to my good mate the LeadBeater, they've had a very rough run and deserve more love ❤
Hugo Poss 🤣🤣🤣
Your turn of phrase in this video had me chuckling
So that call I have variously thought could be a bird, a bat or an insect is a Ringy, the only known resident of my yard I didn't think of. Thanks for incidentally clearing that mystery up. I love this video as I've loved all the series.
there used to be a LOT of brushtail possums in the park near my school. one day a friend and I got a pizza and sat on the grass to eat, when a cheeky possum tried to help himself to our pizza. luckily the lid was shut, but he was trying his hardest to find a way in!!! shooing didn't work, so in the end I picked him up and put him off the picnic rug. he made a snarling noise as I lifted him, then decided the pizza was probably shit anyway, so left for the nearest tree
I'm so happy I'm in a semi built up area again because I have a brushie family who visit me every night. It's breeding season now, so she's chosen a very impressive male which gave me a fright when I was sitting at the outdoor table XD The growls are hysterical and koalas are just as frightening the first time you hear either. I'm so excited to see her new bubby. We shouldn't feed them but I can't resist they are just SO cute. Thank you for yet another beautiful vid and your commentary is absolutely priceless, Mate
I am very friendly with my family of brushies that live in my fence. Funny though, he sleeps in one fence and missus and kid, in another. Smart man. 🤣👍
You made me burst in to tears with the “do it for them” Simpsons reference. Poor little darlings.
"Forcefully revving a bowl of porridge" killed me, love it!
I did a lot of work in the highlands of central Tasmania. One night I was heading home and I saw a possum on a wallaby corpse on the road. I thought "surely the possum is not eating the wallaby". I was wrong, it was eating the wallaby and I have it on dash cam lol. They are really interesting creatures.
They will cannibalise carcasses, rarely.
Thank you for your videos, you have a great sense of humour and do a great job show casing Australian wildlife
Excellent. Love your quirky humour. V interesting. I learnt a lot. I like my trees standing UP too!
lol "They are more reliable than Telstra & Optus, the bar isn't too high" love this line XD
I didn't know about possum box installation, great to know
possum meat for eating though... no thanks...
Didn't know there are so many different ones. They are so cute & so sad to see some of them are endangered to only thousands...
I loved the Aussie-isms. Such enjoyable narration. 😂
This was a great vid. Puns were on point.
even though they’re feral af, they’re absolutely adorable and i love them
I love possums bro Australia is so lucky to have these amazing animals ABSOLUTE SIGMA possums...
My first Aussie possum experience was sitting in the dark backyard of my Melbourne rental a week after I moved in and hearing some empty growling in the dark.
Turned out it was just some possums having a fight over some figs we had growing at the back corner.
you deserve millions of views. All your videos are must watches for me
That was very interesting as always. I have a family of ringtails in my yard. They definitely prefer the trees than my roof, thank goodness.
I have a brush tail who traverses my lower roof at around 9 pm and like clockwork comes back with thump jump from the hedge around 1am it’s almost like my brain registers it, and I say ahah, the boys home.
2:17 i just moved to australia not too long ago and being able to understand and relate to that statement hits very hard, its kind of surreal how that one joke made me feel like i settled into this country just a tiny bit more
Beautiful work as always. I love the little jokes everywhere
I put out cut up fruit for 'my possums'. Every night. They get quite tame. I have installed a box in the back yard.
Good on u mate :)
Rounding up your own fur coat? 🤔
Hugo Poss! 😅😅😅😅 love this channel
They are all very cute! Excellent and funny narration.
Love your channel and your sense of humour. Will be watching out for more of your presentations.
Yesss! Great work, I love mixing comedy with education ❤ love your work 👏