What is Leadbeater's possum?
{{Taxobox | name = Leadbeater's possum <ref name=msw3>{{MSW3 Groves|pages=54}}</ref> | image = Leadbeater's_Possum_02_Pengo.jpg | image_caption = Taxidermy specimen | status = EN | trend = down | status_system = iucn3.1 | status_ref = <ref name=iucn>{{IUCN2008|assessors=Menkhorst, P.|year=2008|id=9564|title=Gymnobelideus leadbeateri|downloaded=28 December 2008}} Database entry tells why this species is listed as endangered</ref> | regnum = [[Animal]]ia | classis = [[Mammal]]ia | infraclassis = [[Marsupialia]] | ordo = [[Diprotodontia]] | familia = [[Petauridae]] | binomial = ''Gymnobelideus leadbeateri'' | range_map = Leadbeater's Possum area.png}} '''Leadbeater's possum''' (''Gymnobelideus leadbeateri'') is an [[endangered species]] of [[Australian]] [[possum]]. They need food all year round, and trees with holes where they can hide during the day. They live in mixed-age wet [[sclerophyll]] forest with plenty of ''[[Acacia]]''. The possum was once thought to be [[extinct]]. It now lives only in small areas of old and mixed age [[Eucalyptus regnans|mountain ash]] [[forest]] in the central highlands of [[Victoria, Australia|Victoria]], north-east of [[Melbourne]]. These trees are a species of ''[[Eucalyptus]]'': they give off vapour which catches fire easily. About half this area was burnt in the disastrous [[Black Saturday]] [[bushfire]] in 2009. Large areas of the forest around [[Marysville, Victoria|Marysville]], [[Narbethong, Victoria|Narbethong]] and [[Healesville, Victoria|Healesville]] were destroyed.<ref name=theaustralian>{{cite news |url=http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25040273-30417,00.html |title=A million native animals may have died in Victorian bushfires |date=Feb 11, 2009 |publisher=The Australian |access-date=2009-02-12 |archive-date=2009-02-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090214190625/http://theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0%2C25197%2C25040273-30417%2C00.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> ==References== {{wikispecies|Gymnobelideus leadbeateri}} {{reflist}} ==O