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Common brushtail possum
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===Reproduction and life history=== The common brushtail possum can breed at any time of the year, but breeding tends to peak in spring, from September to November, and in autumn, from March to May, in some areas. Mating is promiscuous and random; some males can sire several young in a season, while over half sire none.<ref name="Tyndale2005" /> In one Queensland population, males apparently need a month of consorting with females before they can mate with them.<ref name="Winter1976" /> Females have a gestation period of 16–18 days, after which they give birth to single young.<ref name="Nowak1991" /><ref name="Cronin2008" /> A newborn brushtail possum is only {{Convert|1.5|cm|abbr=on|sigfig=1}} long and weighs only {{Convert|2|g|abbr=on|sigfig=1}}. As usual for marsupials, the newborn may climb, unaided, through the female's fur and into the pouch and attach to a teat. The young develops and remains inside the mother's pouch for another 4–5 months. A preliminary study inducing [[ovulation]] through exposure of [[Hormone|hormones]] resulted in changes to the appearance of [[Mammary gland|mammary glands]] in females suggesting that mammary glands provide immunological protection to [[Infant|neonates]] through [[milk]] secretions.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Old |first1=Julie M. |last2=Irving |first2=M. |last3=Deane |first3=Elizabeth M. |date=2005-07-04 |title=BRIEF COMMUNICATION: Histology of the pouch epithelium and the mammary glands during chemically induced oestrus in the brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula) |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7580.2005.00424.x |journal=Journal of Anatomy |volume=207 |issue=1 |pages=97–102 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-7580.2005.00424.x |pmid=16011549 |issn=0021-8782|pmc=1571494 }}</ref> When older, the young is left in the den or rides on its mother's back until it is 7–9 months old.<ref name="Nowak1991" /><ref name="Cronin2008" /> Females reach sexual maturity when they are a year old, and males do so at the end of their second year.<ref name="Nowak1991" /><ref name="Cronin2008" /> Brushtail possums can live up to 13 years in the wild.<ref name="Nowak1991" /><ref name="Cronin2008" /> Female young have a higher survival rate than their male counterparts due to establishing their home ranges closer to their mothers, while males travel farther in search of new nesting sites, encountering established territories from which they may be forcibly ejected. In New Zealand's [[Ōrongorongo River|Ōrongorongo]] population, female young have been found to continue to associate with their mothers after weaning, and some inherit the prime den sites.<ref name="Brockoe1992" /> A possible competition exists between mothers and daughters for dens, and daughters may be excluded from a den occupied by the mother.<ref name="Johnson2001" /> In forests with shortages of den sites, females apparently produce more sons, which do not compete directly for den sites, while in forests with plentiful den sites, female young are greater in number.<ref name="Johnson2001" /> [[File:Brushtail possum exudative dermatitis.jpg|thumb|Brushtail possum exhibiting exudative dermatitis, a condition that often results from stress associated with overcrowding, particularly in young males attempting to assert territory]]
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