Why Wet Tropic possum populations have conservationists worried

Ringtail possums in the state’s Wet Tropics could be wiped out in less than three decades due to rising summer temperatures.
The populations of four species that live in the Wet Tropics have been in steady decline since 2014, with numbers at lower elevations at the point of “local extinction”.
Researchers at James Cook University believe the species could be completely extinct from 2050 if climate change action doesn’t happen now.
“Almost all of the specialist rainforest birds have severely declined as well,” professor Stephen Williams said.
“They have lost between 30 to 50 per cent of their total population size.”
Image: Getty