T. vulpecula Skull Replica or Brush-Tailed Possum measures 3.9 inches. Brush-Tailed Possum Skull Replica is museum quality polyurethane cast. 2-part skull (separate cranium & jaw).
The Didelphis vulpecula or Common Brushtail Possum has large and pointed ears. Its bushy tail is adapted to grasping branches, prehensile at the end with a hairless ventral patch.
Its fore feet have sharp claws and the first toe of each hind foot is clawless, but has a strong grasp. The possum grooms itself with the third and fourth toes which are fused together.
It has a thick and woolly pelage that varies in colour depending on the subspecies. Color patterns tend to be silver-grey, brown, black, red, or cream.
The ventral areas are typically lighter and the tail is usually brown or black. The muzzle is marked with dark patches.
The Didelphis vulpecula or Common Brushtail Possum has a head and body length of 32 to 58 cm with a tail length of 24 to 40 cm. It weighs 1.2-4.5 kg.
The Didelphis vulpecula or Common Brushtail Possum can breed at any time of the year, but breeding tends to peak in spring, from September to November, and in autumn, from March to May, in some areas.
Mating is promiscuous and random; some males can sire several young in a season, while over half sire none.
In one Queensland population, males apparently need a month of consorting with females before they can mate with them.
Didelphis vulpecula or Common Brushtail Possum females have a gestation period of 16 to18 days, after which they give birth to single young.
A newborn brushtail possum is only 1.5 cm long and weighs only 2 g. The newborn may climb, unaided, through the female’s fur and into the pouch and attach to a teat.
The young develops and remains inside the mother’s pouch for another 4 to 5 months.
When older, the young is left in the den or rides on its mother’s back until it is 7 to 9 months old. Females reach sexual maturity when they are a year old, and males do so at the end of their second year. Brushtail possums can live up to 13 years in the wild.
Female young have a higher survival rate than their male counterparts due to establishing their home ranges closer to their mothers, while males travel farther in search of new nesting sites, encountering established territories from which they may be forcibly ejected.
In New Zealand’s Ōrongorongo population, female young have been found to continue to associate with their mothers after weaning, and some inherit the prime den sites. A possible competition exists between mothers and daughters for dens, and daughters may be excluded from a den occupied by the mother.
In forests with shortages of den sites, Didelphis vulpecula or Common Brushtail Possum females produce more sons, which do not compete directly for den sites, while in forests with plentiful den sites, female young are greater in number.
