Climbing bag

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Climbing bag
Fox kusu (Trichosurus vulpecula)

Fox kusu ( Trichosurus vulpecula )

Systematics
without rank: Synapsids (Synapsida)
Class : Mammals (mammalia)
Subclass : Marsupials (Marsupialia)
Superordinate : Australidelphia
Order : Diprotodontia
Family : Climbing bag
Scientific name
Phalangeridae
Thomas , 1888

The climbing bees (Phalangeridae) are a family of the marsupial order Diprotodontia . The family includes 29 species in six genera .

distribution

Climbing baggers live in Australia , New Guinea , eastern Indonesia (from Sulawesi and Timor ) and the Solomon Islands . Foxes were introduced to New Zealand where they have reproduced considerably.

description

Climbing bags are medium-sized animals with a strong build. With their short heads and forward-facing eyes, they look like monkeys. The tail is long, graspable and usually hairy. The fur is dense and woolly and the color varies from black to gray to white and red-brown. Your molars have low crowns that are equipped with transverse edges.

Way of life

Climbing baglers are predominantly tree-dwellers and live in wooded or tree-lined habitats. With the prehensile tail and hands (many species have two fingers on their front paws opposite the other like a thumb, similar to the koalas ) they are well adapted to the climbing way of life. They are mostly nocturnal and spend the day hidden in various hiding places. Most climbing baggers live solitary outside of the mating season.

food

Climbing baggers are mainly herbivores, their diet consists of leaves, fruits and flowers. They also occasionally ingest insects and small vertebrates.

Reproduction

After a short pregnancy (14 to 18 days), one to three young animals are born, but usually only one is suckled in the pouch. The pouches are well developed and open forward. The young animal often spends six months in the pouch and becomes sexually mature in the second or third year of life. Climbing bags can live to be over ten years old.

threat

While the kusus are among the most widespread marsupials and also live in cities as cultural followers, other species suffer from the deforestation of the primeval forests and from being hunted for their fur and meat. Exact data are lacking for many species, but the IUCN lists two species as endangered .

Internal system

The climbing bags are divided into three subfamilies, six genera and almost 30 species:

literature

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b Kristofer Helgen & Stephen Jackson: Family Phalangeridae (Cuscuses, Brush-tailed Possums and Scaly-tailed Possum) Pages 456 - 497 in Don E. Wilson , Russell A. Mittermeier : Handbook of the Mammals of the World - Volume 5. Monotremes and Marsupials. Lynx Editions, 2015, ISBN 978-84-96553-99-6

Web links

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