page_title: Striped possum
section_title: Description
hierarchical_section_title: Striped possum / Description
caption_attribution_description: English: photo of Striped Possum
context_page_description: The striped possum or common striped possum is a member of the marsupial family Petauridae. The species is black with three white stripes running head to tail, and its head has white stripes that form a 'Y' shape. It is closely related to the sugar glider, and is similar in appearance.
context_section_description: This possum looks like a black and white squirrel. It is solitary, mostly nocturnal, arboreal, and builds nests in tree branches. The body length is approx. 263 mm long, tail 325 mm, and weight 423 g. The striped possum's tail is prehensile.  Its fourth finger is elongated relative to the others (like the third finger of the aye-aye, a lemur found in Malagasy rainforests) and is used to take beetles and caterpillars from tree bark, making it a "mammalian woodpecker". The striped possum also eats leaves, fruits, and small vertebrates. Its main diet consists of wood-boring insect larvae, which are extracted from rotten branches probing with its elongated fourth finger and its powerful incisor teeth which are used to rip open tree bark to expose insects. It detects the larvae by a rapid drumming along branches with the toes of its forefoot. The fourth finger has an unusual hooked nail which it uses to extract insects out of cracks.
  It emits a "very powerful unpleasant smell." It is noisy and growls. During the day it curls up on an exposed branch and sleeps.
  The female striped possum has two teats in her pouch and can give birth to up to two young. However, not a lot is known of its breeding habits.
  It is most easily found by the sound it makes chewing and drinking in the forest. The striped possum is one of the least known marsupials. The species is not considered to be threatened.
caption: In Crater Lakes National Park, Queensland, Australia
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