Backyard cutie

After the rather creepy mole cricket a few days ago, we were excited to find a much cuter creature in our garden tonight, a Ring-tail Possum Pseudocheirus pereginus. We often see them around, along with the bigger Brushtails, they like to do a tight-rope act along the wires across the street.  With the flash of the camera it shows this one is a beautiful red colour, I had no idea they were so red - we only ever see them in the dark!  We have a tiny back garden (about 4x10 metres), half of which is Myrtle bush, so its fantastic the wildlife don't think its too small and appreciate our trees.

A couple of years ago we rescued a baby ring-tail, when it's mother had abandoned it and the Magpies were attacking it.  We wrapped it in a towel, cuddled it to keep it warm and took it to the local vet surgery.  We hope it survived ok.  Cats and dogs are a big threat to these cute little things, as are the usual cars and habitat clearance, particularly as ring-tail possums live exclusively in trees and haven't adapted themselves to live more closely with humans (i.e. invading roof spaces!) like the Brush-tail.

Me holding the baby ring-tail we rescued in Sydney, May 2010