Critically Endangered
Leadbeater's possum
Gymnobelideus leadbeateri
Leadbeater's possum is a critically endangered possum largely restricted to small pockets of alpine ash, mountain ash, and snow gum forests in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia, north-east of Melbourne.
The mammal
Leadbeater's possum is a mammal in the family Petauridae (order Diprotodontia) — Gymnobelideus leadbeateri.
Range and habitat
The entire Central Highlands population distribution is confined to a 70 by 80 kilometre area. With 43% of its known Central Highlands habitat destroyed in the bushfires of February 2009 – large areas of forest around Toolangi, Marysville, Narbethong, Cambarville and Healesville – the species' status is currently in doubt. Leadbeater's possum is a critically endangered possum largely restricted to small pockets of alpine ash, mountain ash, and snow gum forests in the Central Highlands of Victoria, Australia, north-east of Melbourne.
In addition there is a small isolated, genetically distinct, population protected within the Yellingbo Nature Conservation Reserve.
Pins are Wikidata “endemic to” fields. Orange dots, when present, are GBIF occurrence tiles — survey bias included.
Breeding
Des Hackett is credited as the first person to successfully breed the Leadbeater's possum in captivity. Healesville Sanctuary's captive breeding program for Leadbeater's possums recommenced in May 2012 and now comprises 6 individuals from the genetically distinct Yellingbo population.
As of May 2015, they are housed as pairs in large enclosures off display, but are yet to breed.
In crisis
Their findings show that the availability of suitable habitat is critical: forest must be neither too old nor too young, with conservation efforts for Leadbeater's possums involving protection of remaining old-growth stands, and maintenance of younger stands that are allowed to attain hollow-bearing age. Clearfell logging and salvage logging (after bushfires) have been proven by the researchers to have been the greatest threat to the possums' conservation in the wild over the last three decades of the 20th century. On 22 April 2015, Greg Hunt, the Minister for the Environment, announced that the Leadbeater's possum would be listed as a "critically endangered" species under the EPBC Act.
The forestry industry and Barnaby Joyce advocated for the Leadbeater's possum to be taken off the critically endangered list. On the eve of an ABC 4 Corner episode on "Extinction" (24 June 2019) the then Environment Minister, Sussan Ley announced that it would be re-listed as "critically endangered".
Leadbeater's possum is Critically Endangered on this catalog because that is the IUCN category stored on Wikidata. Confirm the official criteria and any later count on iucnredlist.org.
Sources
Written for this catalog from the English Wikipedia article on Leadbeater's possum, Wikidata item Q301042. Family and order context is original field-guide writing about the group, not a copied assessment of this one species. Wikipedia text is CC BY-SA. Not an IUCN assessment. Counts, when quoted, can change — confirm them on the recovery programme and on iucnredlist.org.
