Is Spring Coming...?
24/03/2019
A new crop of babies has started to appear at the Park. Two of these are quite special, and 'firsts' for us at Hamerton. Included in our collection are no less that five varieties (or 'taxa') of Phalangers. These animals might not be familiar to us in the west, but are well-known in their native Australia and New Guinea. Some of ours are currently off-show whilst we are busy working on other projects. Much of the on-going development work at the Park is weather dependent and we have been using the nice spring to good advantage with a number of ground-work projects. Our Australian Ring-tailed Possum and New Guinea Ground Cuscus are currently off-show and will move back over the summer.
In addition we have no fewer than three other types of Possum. The Tasmanian Golden Possum now have access to an on-exhibit enclosure, and our generic Brush-tailed Possum are visible from inside the 'Outback Aviary'. Also off-exhibit is a young pair of Queensland Silver-Grey Brush-tailed Possum, imported last year. Although old records seem to be retrospectively changed, these appear to be the first seen in the UK for over 100 years, and we are delighted that both they and the common Brush-tails now have joeys venturing out of the pouch. The babies huge floppy ears make them look like real-life gremlins!
These animals are largely nocturnal, but do have periods of activity early and late in the day, so there is always a chance you could spot something really special!