Leadbeater's possum

Leadbeater's possum [1]
Taxidermy specimen
Conservation status
Endangered  (IUCN 3.1)[2]
Scientific classification
Kingdom:	Animalia
Class:	Mammalia
Infraclass:	Marsupialia
Order:	Diprotodontia
Family:	Petauridae
Binomial name
Gymnobelideus leadbeateri

Leadbeater's possum (Gymnobelideus leadbeateri) is an endangered species of Australian possum. They need food all year round, and trees with holes where they can hide during the day. They live in mixed-age wet sclerophyll forest with plenty of Acacia.

The possum was once thought to be extinct. It now lives only in small areas of old and mixed age mountain ash forest in the central highlands of Victoria, north-east of Melbourne.

These trees are a species of Eucalyptus: they give off vapour which catches fire easily. About half this area was burnt in the disastrous Black Saturday bushfire in 2009. Large areas of the forest around Marysville, Narbethong and Healesville were destroyed.^[3]

1. ↑ Groves, Colin (2005). Wilson, D. E.; Reeder, D. M. (eds.). Mammal Species of the World (3rd ed.). Johns Hopkins University Press. p. 54. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.
2. ↑ Menkhorst, P. (2008). "Gymnobelideus leadbeateri". IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. Version 2008. International Union for Conservation of Nature. Retrieved 28 December 2008. Database entry tells why this species is listed as endangered
3. ↑ "A million native animals may have died in Victorian bushfires". The Australian. Feb 11, 2009. Archived from the original on 2009-02-14. Retrieved 2009-02-12.