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AnAge entry for Trichosurus vulpecula

Classification (HAGRID: 02888)
TaxonomyKingdom: Animalia
    Phylum: Chordata
        Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
            Order: Diprotodontia
                Family: Phalangeridae
                    Genus: Trichosurus
SpeciesTrichosurus vulpecula
Common nameBrush-tailed possum

Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits

Maximum longevity15.9 years (captivity)
Sourceref. 671
Sample sizemedium
Data qualityacceptable
Observations

Only 25% of individuals survive to live a second year. Compared to other species of the same genus, development appears to be faster in these animals [0434]. One captive specimen lived for 15.9 years [0671].

Life history traits (averages)

Female sexual maturity315 days
Male sexual maturity730 days
Gestation17 days
Weaning204 days
Litter size1 (viviparous)
Litters per year
Inter-litter interval274 days
Weight at birth0.279 g
Weight at weaning740 g
Adult weight2,395 g
Postnatal growth rate0.0206 days-1 (from Gompertz function)
Maximum longevity residual99 %

Metabolism

Typical body temperature309ºK or 36.0ºC or 96.8ºF
Basal metabolic rate3.8000 W
Body mass1993.5 g
Metabolic rate per body mass0.001906 W/g

References
[0671] Richard Weigl (2005), Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; from the Living Collections of the World
[0247] Clinchy et al. (2004), Body size, age and paternity in common brushtail possums (Trichosurus vulpecula), PubMed
[0036] Savage et al. (2004), The predominance of quarter-power scaling in biology
[0420] White and Seymour (2003), Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass2/3, PubMed
[0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
[0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
[0731] Zullinger et al. (1984), Fitting sigmoid equations to mammalian growth curves

External resources

Integrated Taxonomic Information SystemITIS 552696
Animal Diversity WebADW account
Encyclopedia of LifeSearch EOL
Genome ProjectSearch NCBI
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