Document ID: chunk:federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00270:body:0:p35
Version: federal_register_of_legislation:F2024L00270
Segment Type: other
Provision Reference: 
Character Range: 95707–98822

females and 12 males producing 75% and 80% of all offspring, respectively (Steventon et al. In review). The median longevity of possums held in captivity was 5.01 years for highland individuals and 5.61 years for lowland individuals. In addition to this study, veterinary and conservation teams at Zoos Victoria are collaborating with several research groups to analyse hormones and investigate the reproductive health of Leadbeater's possums held in captivity (for example, ultrasounds have been performed on females held in captivity).

Translocation
There have been numerous attempts to translocate Leadbeater's possums, the majority involving lowland individuals as part of recovery actions being implemented by Zoos Victoria since 2017. In 1987, there was an unsuccessful attempt to establish captive-bred highland Leadbeater's possums in montane ash forest (Macfarlane and Seebeck 1991). In 2002, a lowland female of dispersal age was successfully translocated to an outlying site at Yellingbo supporting an unpaired male (Harley 2002), resulting in a new breeding territory and production of three young prior to the loss of the adult female. This success prompted the wild-to-wild translocation of a further five lowland individuals, for which post-release site fidelity was low and predation rates high. Translocation is more likely to succeed if established social groups are moved into unoccupied habitat, or if individuals are translocated into the territories of unpaired individuals (D. Harley, pers. comm.). Techniques to promote post-release site fidelity (for example, supplementary feeding, nest box provisioning) are important to improve translocation success, as this may avoid elevated predation risk associated with animals attempting to disperse through unfamiliar habitat (D. Harley, pers. comm.).
Extensive translocation work with this species since 2017 has refined release methods such that entire colonies can now be successfully translocated to new locations with a high likelihood of site fidelity following release. Similarly, there has been recent success in translocating individuals to territories containing an unpaired possum of the opposite sex, whereby new breeding pairs may be established. Nest box provisioning, supplementary feeding, and monitoring via camera traps and radio-tracking are key components of the current translocation protocol.
Monitoring cat and fox activity is key at translocation sites. Two translocations intended to establish colonies outside the current range, of 11 possums in 2020 and 13 in 2022 to 2023 were terminated following high rates of predation, particularly by feral cats. Attempts to reduce cat densities through trapping at each location were ineffective.
Extensive work has been undertaken by Zoos Victoria in an attempt to identify habitat suitable for the translocation of lowland individuals, both within and outside the species' historic range. To date, no large, intact areas of suitable swamp forest have been identified, limiting translocation options. These habitat assessments have also included evaluation of potential habitat