To start with, when the level of cineole was low, possums preferred the first enclosure.
Emerging occasionally from the brush are wallabies, echidnas, possums and palm-sized sugar gliders.
Cattle vaccination has been tested on research sites, where cattle are grazed in areas where possums, which carry TB, are present.
Rather than blame bird distress on timber companies, New Zealanders blame possums.
My little brother even raised eight baby possums after their mother was hit by a car (all named Henry, so it was hard to tell them apart).
Many species are nocturnal, so be prepared for parades of curious possums looking for food after dark and a magnificent night time symphony of wildlife in the woods.
Other unusual critters, including long-nosed bandicoots, tree kangaroos and ringtail possums, also haunt the crater: roll up after dusk with a flashlight to get a glimpse of these nocturnal marsupials.
As she reports in the Journal of Animal Ecology, she attempted to imitate the distinction between trees and ground by giving eight possums the opportunity to feed in either of two enclosures.
The island is jam-packed with wallabies, wombats and possums, principally because foxes, which have decimated marsupial populations on the mainland, were slow to reach the island (the first fox was found in Tasmania only as recently as 2001).
To eradicate the thriving possum population (70 million at last count), authorities airdrop carrots laced with sodium monofluoroacetate, a rodenticide banned in the U.S. The poisoned veggies snuff not only possums but also bunnies, deer and household pets.
When the food was toxin-free, the possums spent an average of 40 minutes of every hour eating safely under treelike cover and only 20 minutes in the risky, ground-like enclosure, and that scarcely changed for 1% and 2% cineole.
And, if vertebrate predators are to be ultimately and non-violently dealt with, New Zealand will have to embrace, in my opinion, immuno-contraception for possums, rats and mustelids, just as so many other countries have done so for countless numbers of species -from deer to elephants.
FORBES: Don Binney (1940-2012): Tribute to A Great Artist and Conservationist
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