The feeding behaviour and activity patterns of the brushtail possum, Trichosurus vulpecula, in an open eucalypt woodland in southeast Queensland

Brushtails spent 16.0% of their time feeding, 30.0% travelling, 43.3% immobile and 10% grooming. The proportions of their terrestrial activity time spent sitting, grooming and travelling were different from the proportions of their arboreal activity time spent on these activities, and the relative proportions of terrestrial activity time devoted to travelling and feeding differed through the night. Male brushtails spent more of their terrestrial activity time feeding than did females. Brushtails spent more time stationary on the ground when it was moonlight than when it was not, suggesting that patterns of terrestrial activity are associated with predator avoidance. It is postulated that the high proportion of their time that brushtails spend immobile is an adaptation to conserve energy which has evolved as a response to energy balance problems imposed by the high toxin levels in their Eucalyptus diet.-from Autho