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Identification history
| Pseudocheirus peregrinus | 4 Jul 2024 | CarbonAI | ||
| Unidentified | 20 Mar 2022 | Tapirlord |
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User's notes
Possum scat on there summit rocks of mt Murray amongst mountain plum pine, I read somewhere that Pygmy possum feed on this species so I’m hoping that they may be up here (there’s over 100 healthy plum pine).
5 comments
DonFletcher
wrote:
20 Mar 2022
Hi Tapirlord, Mountain Pygmy Possums live in blockstreams (boulder fields), mostly ones with mountain plum pine. My understanding is that no boulder field = no mountain pygmy possum. They eat Bogong Moths and some plant material. This looks like a herbivore scat. I cant tell the size of these scats but they look Brush Tailed Possum sized. But if MPP is in serious contention, Linda Broom at NSW OEH would know if the scat was from that species.
Tapirlord
wrote:
21 Mar 2022
Ah ok, interesting, well despite what it may look like from the satellite image there is a considerable boulder field on the second summit of Murray (the ACT side). I'd say there is around 100 healthy mountain plum pine, mixed with alpine mint-bush, mountain beard-heath & alpine orites, with large clumps of moss amongst the boulders. The vast majority of this somehow managed to escape the summit burn, so I'm thinking this would be potential habitat based on your description. Regarding the scat, they were something like 1/2cm long and under a cm wide (0.8-0.5) approx, in groups of 5-7 though not clumped like what I saw on Mt Namadgi. I wasn't confident at the time that this wasn't a brush-tailed possum. Regardless, it was a gorgeous place to watch the sunrise! :)
DonFletcher
wrote:
21 Mar 2022
I looked it up in the Barbara Triggs book and (sorry!) these are quite unlike the scats she describes for Mountain Pygmy Possum. She has a drawing of Podocarpus seeds cracked by MPP V other species which could be really useful. I think an ACT survey for MPP was done in the 1980s by someone i know. I will check whether your boulder field was looked at if you can give me a clearer idea what you mean by the second summit of Mt Murray.
Tapirlord
wrote:
21 Mar 2022
Ah sorry about that, I believe that I am correct in saying that Murray has two summits, the western and taller summit (1845m) is in NSW, while the eastern summit (the boulder field) is on the ACT side and is 1835m or thereabouts (photo is taken pretty much exactly on the summit). Hoping that's what you're after :).
Sighting information
- 1 Abundance
- 13 Mar 2022 07:50 AM Recorded on
- Tapirlord Recorded by
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Collections
Unidentified sightings Mammals Possums & Gliders Possums Tapirlord
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