Australia. Guide to Australia

Hobotnogolovy couscous or Possum, honey badger (Rostratus Tarsipes или Tarsipes spenserae) – marsupial mammal of the order dvureztsovyh, this is the only kind of family. Possum, honey badger lives in the south-western coastal regions Zap. Australia.

Possum, honey badger is adapted to feeding on pollen and nectar of flowers, his face is stretched in the proboscis, which is approximately 2/3 length of the head, and language, covered with long and thin with long setiform papillae and may protrude from the mouth to the 2,5 centimeters. Language-possum represents a kind of honey badger brush to collect pollen, and an elongated snout is tube to suck the nectar.

Possum, honey badger is very small creature, its size is less than the mouse: body length 7-8 сантиметра, length of the tail – 9-10 са�centimeterssum, and weighs just honey badger 13-17 G.

The coat is short and a honey badger rough, long tail, thin and bare. His eyes were small honey badger, ears small, color gray back, with 3 brown longitudinal stripes. The average stripe runs from the neck to base of tail, Side – from the shoulders to the hips. Boca pale orange, puzo Zelt-svetloe, head – light-dark-brown.

Huge finger on the limbs contrasted with the rest of the honey badger. II and III fingers on the hind limbs, as for possums, fuse, but the nails are, instead of claws. The teeth have degenerated and the honey badger them all 22; masticatory muscles are poorly developed. Females are larger than males, in the brood pouch in females 4 nipple.
Possum, honey badger is found in shrubby thickets and sparse forests, this is the only marsupial, adapted to feed on nectar and pollen from flowers; its biology related to the distribution and phenology of flowering plant specific. Marsupials are important pollinators of honey badger of some flowering plants. Visited by them to include banksia grown plants, каллистемоны, driandry, hakei, kordiliny scrub and eucalyptus.

Lifestyle possum-ratel eerily similar to medium-sized Australian way of life of birds – medososov (Meliphagidae). As they, honey badger lives and feeds on trees. He builds a round nest of grass or a bird's nest is abandoned; Young possums are often found in nests medososov. Its food is similar to the same: pollen, nectar and small insects, found in the corolla. Regardless of the name, honey honey badger does not eat. Light weight helps this animal to climb on the most delicate branches, a long proboscis and tongue – gather food from the bottom of the flower corolla. Nectar and pollen, covering language, After his brushes with the ridges on the hard palate.

Possums, honey badger – very agile animals; often possible to see them hanging from the branches with a single prehensile tail. In honey badger 3 peak activity: с 6 до 8 ч. Morning, �with17 до 19 ч. and 23.30 д�before30 ч.Hight. At night they feed on possums, often gathering in small groups on the same plant. In cold weather, they sometimes hibernate and sleep in nests groups, warming to each other. Honey badger foraging areas occupied in the area per hectare, however, in lactating females are less – order 100 Metres away.

In captivity, females dominate males and demonstrate to them the aggressive behavior of. Possums, honey badger can easily tamed, though he never got to hold them in captivity more than 2 Months.
Definite breeding season, do not contain honey badger – young in nature meets almost the entire year (except for December., when few flowering plants). Although there is a peak of breeding, which falls on January and February. Embryonic diapause in the development of the embryo allows the next offspring produced in a short time later, the previous one leaves the bag.

At birth, possums weigh 2-6 mg, and are one of the smallest babies in the middle of mammals. In the litter to 4 pups. They remain in the bag before 8 weeks.; By that time they weigh 2,5 G, their eyes open and there are the typical strip on the back. Another c / o week they leave the nest at night and travel with his mother in search of food. In 11 weeks, the young possums is wholly independent; reach sexual maturity in 6 Months.
Possums, honey badger is rare, but does not belong to protected species. The main threat to them is the reduction of food supply and the destruction of natural habitats, tk. Unlike birds, feeding on nectar, honey badger are unable to make long migrations in search of food.

Probably, Possum, honey badger is the sole survivor of an ancient group of marsupials. His earliest fossils date from the Pleistocene (35,000 years ago), when the climate was wetter Australia.