How come Aussie opossums are so cute and ours look
like big rats that raid our bird feeders? Is this the species
that invaded NZ? A NZ friend sent me two pair of possum
socks a couple of years ago. Same species????
We have plenty of brush tails here....The bastards! They eat everything and anything. Broccoli or Magnolia flowers, Apples or oak trees, anything...No it is the Australian brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) that is here. It is a cat-sized marsupial, that was introduced to New Zealand in 1837 for the fur trade. In Australia, the possum is protected as a native species. But in New Zealand, it has become the country’s most damaging animal pest, wreaking havoc on native forests. There are some 70 million estimated in NZ and they have no predators here.
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