TINY TUNNELLERS THRIVE
ONE of Australia’s most secretive marsupials, believed extinct until the late 1960s, is making a comeback thanks to unique purpose-built love tunnels and a series of microchips.
Microchip readers have shown the mountain pygmypossum, the country’s only hibernating marsupial, have happily taken to using the tunnels when they awake from their long winter slumber and head out to mate.
Fitted cameras have also taken pictures of the tiny possums, revealing their secret habits as they navigate their way through the tunnels underneath Victoria’s Great Alpine Road.
Federal Environment Minister Sussan Ley said the possums had taken a liking to the tunnel network.
“Microchip readers at each end of the Little Higginbotham tunnel have recorded at least 30 possums moving through the tunnels in the warmer months,” Ms Ley said.
The possums face threats from predators such as feral cats as well as loss of habitat.