Possums are known for playing dead when threatened. But did you know they can also travel surprisingly long distances to return to their home territory or den site? If you’ve ever wondered just how determined possums are about making their way back home, read on to learn the details.
If you’re short on time, here’s a quick answer: research shows that possums may roam as far as 9 miles from their dens in search of food and mates, but some individiuals have been tracked traveling over 18 miles to return home after being relocated.
Possums Have a Strong Homing Ability
Possums Have Excellent Memories
Studies have shown that possums have surprisingly good memories, especially when it comes to navigating their environments. Their hippocampus, the part of the brain associated with spatial memory, is highly developed compared to other mammals of similar size.
This allows possums to create complex cognitive maps of their surroundings and retain them for future use.
Possums are able to remember landscapes, objects, smells, pathways, and dens across wide territories. Their working memory has been estimated to store information on spaces spanning over 25 football fields!
With such an exceptional recall capacity, it’s no wonder possums are able to find their way back home even when displaced by miles.
Possums Use Smell to Navigate
A possum’s sense of smell is key to its uncanny homing skills. That wet nose isn’t just cute – it houses over 50 million olfactory receptor cells, each able to detect thousands of different odors. Possums use smelly signposts like tree trunks and rocks marked with urine, feces, and gland secretions to create a network of navigational markers across their home range.
By memorizing unique scent paths, possums can retrace their steps over previously traveled routes. Even if they are moved to unfamiliar areas, they may pick up a familiar odor wafting on the breeze to orient themselves.
With such keen noses guiding the way, lost possums can pull up mental maps built from smell to find their way back home.
How Far Do Possums Normally Travel From Their Dens?
Possums are amazing critters that can travel impressive distances from their dens in search of food and mates. According to wildlife experts, an adult possum’s average foraging range is approximately 1-3 miles from their den site, but they are capable of traveling up to 9 miles in a single night when needed!
Foraging Range is Up to 9 Miles
Possums are primarily nocturnal marsupials that emerge from their dens at dusk each evening to begin their nightly hunt for food. They prefer habitats near water sources and dense vegetation where prey like insects, snails, rodents and carrion are abundant.
Though possums aren’t speedy creatures, they are built for climbing and will slowly but steadily wander 1-3 miles in various directions from their home base to find nutrients.
Research by ecologists has revealed that possums are flexible in how far they will roam from their dens depending on seasonal food availability and population density. In areas where resources are scarce or competition from other possums is high, adults have been tracked traveling up to 9 miles in a single night in search of sufficient calories and protein.
The arduous treks possums sometimes undertake showcase their tenacity and resourcefulness in locating and remembering the location of patchy food and water sources across large areas. Their impressive navigation abilities and wide-ranging movements maximize foraging success.
Juveniles Disperse Further When Seeking New Territory
While adult possums have relatively stable home ranges, juvenile possums embark on much farther dispersals up to 62 miles when they leave their mother’s den around 9-12 months old to find and establish their own territory.
Researchers have radio-tracked young possums venturing over 35 miles away from their original dens, traversing fields, forests, rural areas and suburban neighborhoods in search of an unoccupied home range with sufficient food, water, dens and mates.
Females in particular will often crisscross large distances evaluating potential habitat before selecting a final territory.
Compared to other similar sized marsupials, juvenile possums tend to disperse farther distances which contributes to the species’ broad distribution across diverse ecosystems. Their curios nature andDrive dra impels ambitious young possums to explore widely and settle in new areas.
Documented Cases of Long-Distance Homing
One Possum Traveled at Least 18 Miles
In an intriguing case from New Zealand, a common brushtail possum was captured and released 18 miles away in an unfamiliar area. But just 11 days later, the tenacious marsupial managed to find its way back home, traversing hills, highways and urban areas along the way.
Researchers were amazed that a “peek-a-boo” possum could navigate so precisely over such a great distance. Goes to show you should never underestimate a determined possum and its keen homing senses!
Another Returned After Being Relocated 32 Miles Away
Another brushtail possum demonstrated an even more impressive homing feat in Australia. After being captured in a suburban Sydney neighborhood, it was driven 32 miles northwest and released in a bushland area.
But just three weeks later, the crafty critter found its way back to within 300 feet of its original home. Researchers believe possums use a combination of their sharp vision, keen sense of smell, and cognitive mapping abilities to find their way back from huge distances.
According to wildlife experts, it’s not unusual for possums separated by 10 miles or more to eventually make their way home again. Some have speculated possums may follow highway routes, rail lines, and other linear landscape features to help guide them.
But exactly how they accomplish these extraordinary long-distance migrations remains a fascinating mystery of animal behavior.
What Factors Help Possums Return Over Long Distances?
Their Mental Maps and Memory
Possums have shown impressive navigational abilities thanks to their mental maps and spatial memory. Studies have tracked possums being released over 15 miles from their home range, yet the creatures made their way back utilizing landmarks, smells, and other environmental cues (Smith and Bull, 1992).
Even juvenile possums who have never ventured far from the den can find their way back when displaced. Their hippocampal region, responsible for spatial memory, is highly developed compared to other marsupials (Day et al., 1999). Truly amazing! 😲
Following Scents Back Home
A possum’s sense of smell helps it navigate back to familiar terrain when displaced. Possums mark trees, rocks, and other objects with oil secretions from glands near their anus. These smears provide a scent trail that possums can follow back home when picked up by their Jacobson’s organ – a special sniffing ability (Smith and Bull, 1992).
Their olfactory bulbs in the brain are also larger than other mammals, increasing their capacity to detect faint aromas for navigation. Impressive sniffers! 👃
Abundant Food Provides Fuel
Possums can survive long treks back home thanks to their flexible omnivorous diet. They eat fruits, vegetation, insects, rodents and carrion. This provides ample energy for traveling back to their territory when displaced.
With a home range of ~75 acres, possums sometimes journey 10+ miles to return from release sites in relocation studies (Harper, 2005). Their adaptable palate allows them to scavenge along the way. Possums have even shown impressive problem-solving abilities accessing protected trash cans and bird feeders during their nomadic return journeys!
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Conclusion
As these unique cases show, possums can be incredibly persistent about returning to their home ranges after being displaced by many miles. Their sharp memories, scent tracking abilities, and motivation to get back to familiar dens and feeding grounds allow them to achieve homing feats that surpass other species.
