Hello Possum!

Mt Buller is home to a small and endangered population of Mountain Pygmy-possums (Burramys parvus) although most of us will never see one of these special little creatures in the wild.  That's mainly because they hibernate all winter long, deep under the snow, and only emerge in the summer for a frenzy of breeding, rearing young and fattening up on Bogong moths before their next sleep.

This week our environment team has the exciting task of checking in on the special population for a weigh in, a count of the possums and a general health check. 

Lachlan Norris poses briefly with a healthy possum getting it's check done before it returns to the safety of the boulder field.

The good news is that the initial reports suggest the population is in good shape with strong numbers, healthy specimens and generally good weights being recorded.  There have also been Bogong moths spotted in the rocky terrain where the possums reside, which is a critical food source for these tiny marsupials.  The Bogong moth is a unique and high-fat food source that helps the possums gain weight (ideally almost doubling their body weight over summer in order to survive hibernation).  Zoos Victoria are currently inviting people to help support the Mountain Pygmy-possum by participating in a citizen science project to help monitor and track the moth migration south.

Get onboard here and you can track, photograph and log any moths you see - it all helps the researchers better understand how many moths are coming to the Alpine areas and the health and state of this critical food supply for the Mountain Pygmy-possums.  Find out more...