Researchers on Monday said they may have discovered a new species of gliding possums.
The so far unnamed marsupial has a much longer and thinner face than the well-known sugar glider, according to Charles Darwin University (CDU) in Australia's Northern Territory.
Gliding possums have webbed legs and leap from tree to tree by gliding through the air.
Researchers feared the known species could be threatened by the dramatic decline in the number and diversity of mammals in northern Australia over the past two decades, and began a research project.
"Nobody has ever studied the gliders up here before," said CDU professor Sue Carthew, part of a team monitoring gliders via radio chips.
"And there has always been an assumption that it is a thing called a sugar glider and we're discovering it's not; it's something new.
"This species has a much longer face and a thinner face, which is more like another species of glider, which is called the squirrel glider.
"We don't even know what they are eating or what trees they are living in."
GMT 09:43 2018 Monday ,03 December
Warmer seas could be behind New Zealand whale strandings, expert saysGMT 11:17 2018 Monday ,26 November
Up to 145 pilot whales die in New Zealand mass strandingGMT 16:01 2018 Friday ,23 November
Indonesia may charge tourists 500 dollars to see rare Komodo dragonsGMT 11:53 2018 Tuesday ,30 October
60 percent of wildlife wiped out in 44 yearsGMT 18:12 2018 Monday ,29 October
Putin’s tiger finds another "girlfriend"GMT 17:22 2018 Saturday ,06 October
Over 120 giant tortoises stolen on Galapagos IslandsGMT 04:33 2018 Thursday ,20 September
Sahelian plains of Chad welcome 40 Scimitar-horned Oryx calvesGMT 08:38 2018 Tuesday ,23 January
Dimming the Sun to cool Earth could ravage wildlifeMaintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Maintained and developed by Arabs Today Group SAL.
All rights reserved to Arab Today Media Group 2021 ©
Send your comments
Your comment as a visitor