Scaly-tailed possum

The scaly-tailed possum, Wyulda squamicaudata, is a possum of northwestern Australia that is restricted to the Kimberley region. It is light grey over most of the body with brown flecking, has relatively short ears and muzzle, and weighs 1.3 to 2.0 kg. Its mostly hairless tail is strongly prehensile and covered in rasp-like scales, and it can hold the animal's own weight as it forages in trees. It is nocturnal, usually solitary and shy, and favours complex rocky sandstone terrain with dense thickets of vines and fruiting trees; up to three quarters of its diet may be fruit. The species was described in 1918 by Wilfred Backhouse Alexander. The IUCN Red List assigns a status of near threatened, with a 2014 population estimate of 5000 to 10,000 and evidence that it is decreasing; it has disappeared from some locations, where frequent fires and predation by feral cats are assumed to be the cause.