Australia is famous for its unique wildlife, and in a lot of cases, how much that unique wildlife is unsuited to cohabitation with humanity. The bugs. I’m talking about the giant bugs. Shudder.
Of course giant, venomous insects and reptiles are only part of Australia’s wildlife charm. There are also plenty of cuties among the native animals.
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Exhibit OMG: The Western Pygmy Possum.
Austrialian possums aren’t actually related to the North American marsupials that regularly terrorize my dogs, aside from being part of the marsupial family.
According to Merriam-Webster , the Australian possums were simply named the same due to their similar appearance to the Virginia possum.
But you may notice one major difference between this possum and the one’s native to North America.
They’re so tiny!
Australia is the only home for four of the five known species of pygmy possums in the world (the fifth is also found in Papua New Guinea and Indonesia), and the Western Pygmy Possum is the cutest, IMHO.
While the other variants of pygmy possum are all grey or brown, these little guys are cinnamon and white.
And they have little dark rings around their eyes.
You know what the craziest thing is? They are some of the biggest of the pygmy possums! From nose to b*m, they max out at about 4 inches, with another 3-4 inches of tail.
Pygmy possums are nocturnal.
During the day, they sleep in hollows of trees or even bird’s nests before heading out at night to find food and shelter for their next day.
They feed on nectar and pollen, as well as occasional insects.
Basically, they are the sweetest and I love them to pieces.
Last Updated on April 30, 2020 by Amy Pilkington
