Wildlife Australia - Spring 2017

Sometimes, rare species turn up in strange places,

surprising even experienced scientists. Tasked with

trapping spoil dumps in Kosciuszko NP, Martin

Schulz was shocked by what he discovered.

W

hen I bent down to pick up a closed trap on a clear early
morning in November 2010, I had no idea what was
about to happen.
No, not heavy enough to be snake, I thought. Probably just
another bush rat.
The bush rat (Rattus fuscipes) is, after all, one of the most
common small mammals in these environs. I gingerly opened
the door a crack and peered in.
What? I did an immediate double-take. This was no bush rat.
Staring back at me was the cutest tiny possum you can imagine

• the mountain pygmy-possum (Burramys parvus). But how
  could this be? I was not on a boulderfield – known habitat for
  this diminutive species. There were no mountain plum-pines
  (Podocarpus lawrencei), and not too many Bogong moths (Agrotis
  infusa) about either – both critical components of this animal’s
  ecosystem. I was also at a much lower altitude than where
  this species is supposed to live. As far as anyone was aware,
  mountain pygmy-possums didn’t live anywhere within a 30 km
  radius, which is a very long walk in Australia’s mountainous
  high country.
  My brain whirred. No one is going to believe this! Best get a
  photo. But my fingers were trembling too much, and there was no
  way I was letting this little pygmy-possum go. I snapped some
  quick, inartistic shots of the possum at the bottom of the trap
  before figuring I had better take it someplace where I could get
  enough phone reception to call Gabriel, the National Parks and
  Wildlife environmental officer on the mountain pygmy-possum
  rehabilitation team. She would be able to confirm the possum’s
  identity. So began a good news story of a critically endangered
  mammal clinging on in the highest climes of the continent.

HANGING ON

My pregnant mountain

pygmy-possum, now with

ear and radio tags. Photo:

Martin Schulz

Beneath the foreground

rocks, in this natural scree

perched high above Happy

Jacks Creek, is the day

shelter of a radio-tagged

mountain pygmy-possum.

Photo: Martin Schulz

Photo: Tatiana Gerus

AND YOU

MIGHT FIND...

SEEK

A surprise in a snow hut

The mountain pygmy-possum was scientifically described

from a Pleistocene fossil found in Wombeyan Caves, NSW, in

1895. Further fossils were discovered in Buchan Caves, eastern
      Victoria, and Jenolan Caves, NSW. No living specimens having
      been located, it was considered Extinct for over 70 years –
      another small mammal that had fallen by the wayside. But in

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