BEACH BRUSHTAILS.

PHALANGERIDAE; MARSUPIALS; HABITATS; ENDANGERED species; LIFE (Biology); REPRODUCTION; ANIMAL breeding

MAGNETIC Island (Qld.); QUEENSLAND

This article presents information about the Common Brushtail Possum on Magnetic Island, Queensland. Despite their adaptable nature, the Common Brushtail Possum is in decline in a number of areas, including Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Cape York Peninsula, most likely due to habitat modification and clearance. Magnetic Island is a small continental island, with an area of 5,184 hectares, about eight kilometres off the coast of Townsville, in tropical north Queensland. More than half of the island is zoned national park and the vista is dominated by large hills and spurs. Female possums on Magnetic Island produce up to two offspring each year; all sexually mature females produce one young in the main breeding season in autumn and some females go on to have a second in early spring. The author's research has shown that these double breeders are often older females that give birth to their autumn offspring earlier than other females, giving them time to fit in a second young in spring. The Common Brushtail Possum is very similar, in terms of its ecology, to other medium-sized arboreal marsupials.