food sources vary across time and space, and in particular are related to the availability of water and the intensity of recent fire. Young leaves are preferred, avoiding the lignin content of mature plant matter. The species is coprophagic, re-consuming faecal matter digested during the day to increase the nutrients derived from their food. Births occur mainly in winter to spring, where usually one young is raised to maturity, although twins may be present in the pouch. Juveniles emerge from the pouch at about three months of age, when they weigh about 125 g, and suckle until they are 6–7 months old, weighing about 550 g. In the wild, western ringtail life spans has been recorded as up to four years in a jarrah forest, and six years on the Swan Coastal Plain, while in captivity, a female under care in a rehabilitation facility lived for nine years. The species will attempt to cross roadways within their foraging range, which leads to a high degree of fatalities as road kill. As a localised conservation measure to reduce the impact of urbanisation on western ringtails, a rope bridge trial was conducted near Busselton. Western ringtails were recorded investigating the bridge while it was still under construction, and the first crossing was recorded one month after construction was completed. During the study period, western ringtails were recorded crossing up to nine crossings per night, although less frequently when weather or moonlight inhibited their movements, and its use was adopted by juveniles who had been carried across by their mother. The success of the rope bridge was greater than anticipated when compared to rope bridge adoption by possums and gliders in similar programs. Conservation Three "key management zones" have been identified as known to support significant numbers of western ringtail possums. These include the Swan Coastal Plain, Southern Forests around Manjimup, and the South Coast between Walpole and Cheynes Beach. Within these zones, the threats to western ringtails are complex, interactive and often population-specific. These threats include habitat loss and fragmentation, introduced predators (particularly the red fox), climate change, timber harvesting, and inappropriate fire regimes. In 2017, the conservation status of the species was re-assessed by the International Union for Conservation of Nature, and classified as critically endangered, with an estimated population of around 3,400 individuals. However since then, surveys of over 40 public reserves across the south-west have found more than 20,000