{ "id": "1417110035141968", "source_url": "https://www.facebook.com/backyardzoology/videos/766750250561632/", "published_at": "2020-09-08T19:34:02+10:00", "published_at_utc": "2020-09-08T09:34:02+00:00", "timestamp": 1599557642, "display_timezone": "Australia/Sydney", "text": "(If you want to hear what a Ringtail Possum sounds like, just scoot to the end and sound up)\n\nI know it's going to be hard to see any real detail in this video especially when you're watching on your phones and to be honest, I almost didn't bother posting. BUT the behaviour is pretty fascinating I think, and I love anything behaviour related, particularly when it's something I don't get to see often.\n\nI woke up or was rather woken up about a week ago around 5:30AM. I laid in bed, my eyes adjusting to the dark, ears pricked up trying to pinpoint the source of the commotion outside. I'm talking lots of crashing through the trees and the consistent high trilling call of Ringtail Possums. I waited for about 15 minutes, just to see if the racket would die down, I mean, who wants to get out of bed if you don't need to? But it kept going and going and so, I decided to brave the dawn (I know, sad, but I'm not the most 'morningish' of people) and snuck outside. \n\nThe sky was starting to lighten, enough that I began to be able to firstly make out the silhouettes of Ringtails chasing each other through the trees and then watch as the rising sun brought colour into their fur allowing me to see the white tips of their tails. And it was on! Lots of calling, lots of running up and down branches, leaping not only from branch to branch but from tree to tree, one literally throwing itself only to use its tail to break its fall at the last minute (if nothing else, just try to watch to 24 sec in so you can see the gymnastics!)\n\nSo yes, this is video shot on my phone, of very small creatures in terrible light but look at them go! I spoke to someone much smarter than me about some theories as to the behaviour. There was a lot of back and forth - Possums running one way, turning around and running back, a fair bit of chasing going on and lots of calling, with what must have been five Possums involved at one point. I was originally worried that one of the Possums had lost a baby or that one of the social group had been taken by say an owl. But it's more likely that as it's breeding season we had a bit of a crossover of social groups (they normally live in groups of about seven adults and that season's young) or some males chasing some females or even possibly a young male having been kicked out of the family and not being quite ready to go.\n\nBy 6:30AM all but two of the Possums had dispersed. I must admit, at this point I was super worried. One was still calling his head off, and we are surrounded by any number of potential predators that nocturnal animals are trying to avoid and it was getting really light. I watched from the window as the second last Ringtail scurried away along the top of the fence, leaving just the little triller behind. I don't think I breathed at all as I waited to see what would happen and after 15 more mins the trees fell silent. \n\nIt wasn't until later in the morning when I was heading to my car that I discovered the answer, curled up in a tight, fluffy ball, snoozing away in the blue ceramic feeder that's hidden in one of my trees. Oh hello you. Glad you made it safely to bed!\n\nRingtail Possums\nNorthern Illawarra", "media": [ { "url": "https://scontent.fsyd3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t15.5256-10/118994816_766758020560855_2648989468355691871_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_tt6&cstp=mx3840x2160&ctp=s960x960&_nc_cat=105&_nc_map=urlgen_bucketless&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=50ce42&_nc_ohc=QRapJXw-7WkQ7kNvwG47LM8&_nc_oc=Ado0vjiOdjtvmfGF9WxSWjTAUla1pKxQ37ShBlJUAeTdjBjfVc_ujTbqbdsPoJ06tQA&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent.fsyd3-1.fna&_nc_gid=QGq2DjVa0NIaVGIl_d5WYQ&_nc_ss=7f2a8&oh=00_AQQqfzSHMC4k3pjG-IbbtX_aAHY3ZgobwfYrvoNfYGXOXQ&oe=6AF5EE5E", "reported_width": null, "reported_height": null, "id": "766750250561632", "kind": "image", "role": "video_poster", "resolution_status": "facebook_served_poster", "original_verified": false, "origin": "post", "status": "downloaded", "local_path": "posts/1417110035141968/assets/1-766750250561632.jpg", "content_type": "image/jpeg", "bytes": 108647, "downloaded_from_url": "https://scontent.fsyd3-1.fna.fbcdn.net/v/t15.5256-10/118994816_766758020560855_2648989468355691871_n.jpg?stp=dst-jpg_tt6&cstp=mx3840x2160&ctp=s960x960&_nc_cat=105&_nc_map=urlgen_bucketless&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=50ce42&_nc_ohc=QRapJXw-7WkQ7kNvwG47LM8&_nc_oc=Ado0vjiOdjtvmfGF9WxSWjTAUla1pKxQ37ShBlJUAeTdjBjfVc_ujTbqbdsPoJ06tQA&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent.fsyd3-1.fna&_nc_gid=QGq2DjVa0NIaVGIl_d5WYQ&_nc_ss=7f2a8&oh=00_AQQqfzSHMC4k3pjG-IbbtX_aAHY3ZgobwfYrvoNfYGXOXQ&oe=6AF5EE5E", "sha256": "0c026781a3777963e2f2a9aaf14c696b432c8768a05055dba5fe11d19633ebeb", "saved_width": 960, "saved_height": 540 }, { "id": "766750250561632", "kind": "video", "role": "attachment", "url": "https://scontent.fsyd4-2.fna.fbcdn.net/o1/v/t2/f2/m366/AQPh8FF2M2BrNYePdXbT_c1ZOq6Vm9BW4is0hgCl6D6Bqm7m6UoIykq0J6b5Y3rgb21UxkMVQ46vilICm-D25YbJv71YHmLyM27LPzWk1dketw.mp4?_nc_cat=109&_nc_oc=Adp7YBebxCNSoQKCi1tJN3djN2SyJvQjGfW48oinjbGmf4HRwFZN-AjNQ5xdBtu1nNE&_nc_sid=5e9851&_nc_ht=scontent.fsyd4-2.fna.fbcdn.net&_nc_ohc=tpxqlZ2sGXMQ7kNvwHl90zk&efg=eyJ2ZW5jb2RlX3RhZyI6Inhwdl9wcm9ncmVzc2l2ZS5GQUNFQk9PSy4uQzMuMTI4MC5kYXNoX2gyNjQtYmFzaWMtZ2VuMl83MjBwIiwieHB2X2Fzc2V0X2lkIjozODE3MzcwODA5MDk3MzgsImFzc2V0X2FnZV9kYXlzIjoyMjUxLCJ2aV91c2VjYXNlX2lkIjoxMDEyMiwiZHVyYXRpb25fcyI6MTE0LCJ1cmxnZW5fc291cmNlIjoid3d3In0%3D&ccb=17-1&vs=28ba89a505283e1e&_nc_vs=HBksFQIYRWZiX2VwaGVtZXJhbC9EQjQxNUQ5ODk4NDVFRDgzRkU4RjYwRjIxNjc4MDJBMV9tdF8xX3ZpZGVvX2Rhc2hpbml0Lm1wNBUAAsgBEgAVAhg0ZmJfcGVybWFuZW50LzM4MjMxMDc0NzYzODMxOV8xMzU2MjU2MDE2NDI3NjMyNzY0Lm1wNBUCAsgBEgAoABgAGwKIB3VzZV9vaWwBMRJwcm9ncmVzc2l2ZV9yZWNpcGUBMRUAACbUvtfxgsytARUCKAJDMywXQFy-yLQ5WBAYGWRhc2hfaDI2NC1iYXNpYy1nZW4yXzcyMHARAHUCZZSeAQA&_nc_gid=QGq2DjVa0NIaVGIl_d5WYQ&_nc_ss=7f2a8&_nc_map=urlgen_bucketless&_nc_zt=28&oh=00_AQQNAKIkdjDdhRgQtF1STyu3huppYD1o6tKFAmUnfSXdWQ&oe=6AF5C38B&bitrate=3751778&tag=dash_h264-basic-gen2_720p", "resolution_status": "facebook_hd", "original_verified": false, "origin": "post", "status": "downloaded", "local_path": "posts/1417110035141968/assets/2-766750250561632.mp4", "content_type": "video/mp4", "bytes": 53964128, "downloaded_from_url": "https://scontent.fsyd4-2.fna.fbcdn.net/o1/v/t2/f2/m366/AQPh8FF2M2BrNYePdXbT_c1ZOq6Vm9BW4is0hgCl6D6Bqm7m6UoIykq0J6b5Y3rgb21UxkMVQ46vilICm-D25YbJv71YHmLyM27LPzWk1dketw.mp4?_nc_cat=109&_nc_oc=Adp7YBebxCNSoQKCi1tJN3djN2SyJvQjGfW48oinjbGmf4HRwFZN-AjNQ5xdBtu1nNE&_nc_sid=5e9851&_nc_ht=scontent.fsyd4-2.fna.fbcdn.net&_nc_ohc=tpxqlZ2sGXMQ7kNvwHl90zk&efg=eyJ2ZW5jb2RlX3RhZyI6Inhwdl9wcm9ncmVzc2l2ZS5GQUNFQk9PSy4uQzMuMTI4MC5kYXNoX2gyNjQtYmFzaWMtZ2VuMl83MjBwIiwieHB2X2Fzc2V0X2lkIjozODE3MzcwODA5MDk3MzgsImFzc2V0X2FnZV9kYXlzIjoyMjUxLCJ2aV91c2VjYXNlX2lkIjoxMDEyMiwiZHVyYXRpb25fcyI6MTE0LCJ1cmxnZW5fc291cmNlIjoid3d3In0%3D&ccb=17-1&vs=28ba89a505283e1e&_nc_vs=HBksFQIYRWZiX2VwaGVtZXJhbC9EQjQxNUQ5ODk4NDVFRDgzRkU4RjYwRjIxNjc4MDJBMV9tdF8xX3ZpZGVvX2Rhc2hpbml0Lm1wNBUAAsgBEgAVAhg0ZmJfcGVybWFuZW50LzM4MjMxMDc0NzYzODMxOV8xMzU2MjU2MDE2NDI3NjMyNzY0Lm1wNBUCAsgBEgAoABgAGwKIB3VzZV9vaWwBMRJwcm9ncmVzc2l2ZV9yZWNpcGUBMRUAACbUvtfxgsytARUCKAJDMywXQFy-yLQ5WBAYGWRhc2hfaDI2NC1iYXNpYy1nZW4yXzcyMHARAHUCZZSeAQA&_nc_gid=QGq2DjVa0NIaVGIl_d5WYQ&_nc_ss=7f2a8&_nc_map=urlgen_bucketless&_nc_zt=28&oh=00_AQQNAKIkdjDdhRgQtF1STyu3huppYD1o6tKFAmUnfSXdWQ&oe=6AF5C38B&bitrate=3751778&tag=dash_h264-basic-gen2_720p", "sha256": "58f3c8ed2c4482661396831af7bf7b128d28e89d3cbae95c32127ead830ad529" } ], "music": [], "music_status": "none_exposed", "warnings": [], "shared_post": null, "archived_at": "2026-11-08T09:37:16.123483+00:00", "expected_photo_count": 0, "post_type": "post", "title": "Backyard Zoology ยท 8 September 2020", "expected_attachment_count": 0 }