patches behind the ears and a creamy white, sometimes greyish, colour at the underside of the body that extends to the chest and throat. It differs from the common ringtail possum found on the east of the continent, by lacking any rufous colouration in the fur. Distribution and habitat The western ringtail is endemic to south-western Western Australia where it is now found in three main areas; the Swan Coastal Plain, Southern Forests around Manjimup, and the South Coast between Walpole and Cheynes Beach. In the Swan Coastal Plain and South Coast, the species favours habitat dominated by Peppermint, as well as Tuart, Marri, Jarrah, Karri, Bullich, Albany Blackbutt, Allocasuarina, Banksia, Kunzea, Nuytsia, and Xylomelum. In the Southern Forests, peppermint is generally absent and the western ringtails live in Jarrah-dominated eucalypt forests. Western ringtails also frequent many urban and peri-urban gardens, where they feed on a variety of native and introduced plants. Urban populations surveyed in the city of Albany have revealed an average individual range of 0.88 hectares, moving from their dreys in the day to their preferred night-time habitat in eucalypts. The study demonstrated that populations varied in their use of habitat and the size of the range was dependent on qualities such as the extent and connections of the canopy cover in its favoured tree species. Since colonial settlement it has undergone a substantial range contraction, up to 90 per cent of the predicted original range. Archaeological records and known locations estimate a historical range that extended southwest from Geraldton to the Hampton Tableland, 200 km west of the border of South Australia. Behaviour The western ringtail is an arboreal and nocturnal herbivore with a relatively small home range of 0.5-6 ha, dependent on habitat type. It uses tree hollows and builds dreys for shelter in tree canopies, their nest-like drey is an assemblage of shredded bark, twigs and leaves. They are primarily arboreal, but will move through understorey or open ground to feed or gain shelter when the tree canopy is unconnected. Sheltering at ground level is recorded, though not usual, more frequently be found at hollows and the upper story of a forest; the species has occasionally be seen to occupy rabbit burrows. Western ringtails are folivorous; their diet includes leaves, shoots, fruit and flowers of a range of plants, both native and introduced. Favoured food trees include Jarrah, Marri, and Peppermint. The quality of