Live in The Gap Rainforest area

Similar in size to the Common Brushtail, the Short-eared Brushtail Possum or Bobuck Trichosurus caninus has short round ears, a tail that is not brushy near tip and black paws. Body length about 500 mm, tail 400 mm, and weighing approximately 4 kg they are about the size of a cat. Usually they have a steely grey coat but may sometimes be black. No coppery colouring like the Common Brushtail Possum. They eat fungi, leaves of shrubs, fruits, buds, lichens and sometime bark. Their scats are like large jelly beans and similar to the Common Brushtail but slightly larger (25 mm by 10 mm), coarse and smooth ended. While not common in Brisbane, these possums live along Enoggera Creek in The Gap Rainforest area.

See iNaturalist record of local sighting.

See story Bobuck the uncommon possum.

Short-eared brushtail possum Trichosurus caninus. Photo: Donald Hobern

Trichosurus caninus by John Gould