A pygmy possum being inspected. (Jo Howell / Zoos Victoria via SWNS)
By Dean Murray
A dozen critically endangered mountain pygmy possums have been successfully bred at an Australian sanctuary.
Healesville Sanctuary in Victoria has welcomed the critters, whose numbers have significantly declined with fewer than 2,000 left in the wild.
Three mothers have each produced litters of four offspring in the breeding program, the maximum number of young for the species.
A pygmy possum being weighed. (Jo Howell / Zoos Victoria via SWNS)
The joeys were born last October and were carried in the pouch for four weeks before they were old enough to be left in their nest boxes.
While they become fully independent at approximately three months old, only now have zookeepers had their first glimpse of the possums in person during their first vet checks at the Sanctuary’s Australian Wildlife Health Centre after watching their every move on CCTV.
It is understood fewer than 2,000 Mountain Pygmy-possums remain in the wild, so every single one of them is valuable.
(Jo Howell / Zoos Victoria via SWNS)
Healesville Sanctuary’s Threatened Species Coordinator Nicole Boys said the joeys look like tiny versions of the adults. “The best way to identify them is by their big heads and much littler bodies.”
"These little joeys will remain here in our breeding programme, and hopefully, in the coming years they will go on to breed, sharing their genes."
The species is critically endangered because their alpine habitat is shrinking due to climate change, their key food source the Bogong Moth has significantly declined in recent years, and they face habitat fragmentation and predation from cats and foxes.