Hi Jennifer,
I photographed this striped possum (Dactylopsila trivirgata) at Cooper Creek Wilderness on the 21st October, 2006, and I was very pleased to see that this photograph of a striped possum, was in fact, two.
Sparsely distributed throughout the wet tropics and along the east coast of Cape York (Australia), the species is spectacularly acrobatic and most frequently found after hearing it crash into overhead vegetation.
Striped possum carrying young, Cooper Creek Wilderness, 21st October 2006
It forages by welting rotten tree material and listening carefully for beetle larvae, which it extricates with its specialised elongate fourth digit on the front feet.
At Cooper Creek Wilderness we are hoping for the onslaught of the heavy wet in the not too distant future, when the sounds of striped possums will be overwhelmed by a menagerie of treefrogs and insects.
Jennifer Marohasy BSc PhD is a critical thinker with expertise in the scientific method.
Nice pic Neil. An example of convergent evolution would be with the Aye-aye, which is an aboreal, nocturnal species which also tap-tap-taps to find grubs and whittles them out with an elongated digit.
Dactylonax, believed to be genetically distinct from Dactylopsila, occurs in PNG. You can sometimes see the striped fur adorning tribal gear.
I think it is a spectacular picture and I also thought of the Madagascan Aye-aye when I saw and read about the striped possum’s fourth digit.
Thanks Neil.
Awwwwwww!!! I hope to visit you guys up there when I get a chance Neil.
Neil, why not add the photo to the Wiki entry?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Striped_Possum
Here is a pic of its elongated digit
http://www.amonline.net.au/mammals/images/collections/200/striped_possum_toe_42.jpg
An uncontroversially good post, Neil. Any chance of more on the rainforest you obviously know well? I don’t mean to jar anybody, but did Aborigines eat these possums? It could be relevant to population stability. In the south-west, I am told that Nyoongars ate the brush tail, but shunned the ring tail possum. This was possibly because the latter eats peppermint leaves, and so tastes a bit rank. I believe both are now increasing following fox baiting – culling may be needed at some future time, if they start affecting vegetation. Maybe dingoes helped to control the population in the past.
uncontroversial until even the striped possum gave rog the elongated digit
Pinxi,
Oh you are awful, but I like you…….
Davey,
I would imagine that stripies would have made the menu only after ngalku (fire-stick burning), which (I understand) was forbidden in the rainforest estate/story places of the Daintree.
I did hear Tim Flannery suggest that Bennett’s tree kangaroo (found north of the Daintree River) was hunted and to such an extent that it evolved into one of the only mammals in the world with darker hair on its abdomen.
What time is required for the achievement of an evolutionary adaptation of such significance?
The only other tree-kangaroo in Australia is Lumholtz’s, which has lighter coloured fur on its underside, despite the similarity of its habitat.
Bennett’s is crepuscular, whereas Lumholtz’ is nocturnal. Dark fur to camouflage from ground-dwelling indigenous hunters favours the under-belly of the former and the dorsal aspect of the smaller, sleeping upland species.
Now that indigenous hunters are prohibited from such quarry, the only other feasible predator is the amethystine python.
Flannery suggested that because these formidible hunters have also virtually vainshed from indigenous fare, that their consequential glut has placed a concerning threat on the endangered population of Bennett’s tree kangaroo.
I have some trouble with this; what with the number of vehicles that kill pythons these nights.
Thanks Neil,
Interesting information. I find the ‘balance of nature’ difficult to grapple with, given that it is dynamic rather than static. Lotka-Volterra ideas notwithstanding, we may never understand it entirely. But then, that’s no reason not to try.
P.S. I don’t think vast time spans are needed for camouflage to develop. Think of the Pepper Moth in nineteenth century England.