Leadbeater's Possum
Gymnobelideus leadbeateri
Conservation Status
Critically EndangeredMammalia · Diprotodontia · Petauridae
About
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 June 2025 it was reported that an image of a sole possum was recorded on a camera trap in October 2024 near Yarrangobilly Caves, Southern NSW, within the Kosciuszko National Park. It is primitive, relict, and non-gliding, and, as the only species in the petaurid genus Gymnobelideus, represents an ancestral form. Formerly, Leadbeater's possums were moderately common within the very small areas they inhabited; their requirement for year-round food supplies and tree-holes to take refuge in during the day restricts them to mixed-age wet sclerophyll forest with a dense mid-story of Acacia. The species was named in 1867 after John Leadbeater, the then taxidermist at the Museum Victoria. They also go by the common name of fairy possum. On 2 March 1971, the State of Victoria made the Leadbeater's possum its faunal emblem.
Fun Fact
Leadbeater's possums were thought extinct for over 50 years until a small colony was rediscovered in 1961 in the mountain ash forests of Victoria, Australia — they remain critically endangered.
Quick Facts
Habitat
Mountain ash forests
Diet
Omnivore
Lifespan
5-8 years
Threats
- Poaching
- Small Population Size
- Genetic Bottleneck
- Deforestation