Skip to main content

Kōrero: Possums

Possum eating a chick

Although mainly plant eaters, possums will raid birds’ nests and eat eggs and chicks. In particular, they prey on forest birds such as kiwi, kererū and kōkako. Few chicks manage to fledge in forests where possums are prevalent.

Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi

Natural History New Zealand

This item has been provided for private study purposes (such as school projects, family and local history research) and any published reproduction (print or electronic) may infringe copyright law. It is the responsibility of the user of any material to obtain clearance from the copyright holder.

Ngā whakaahua me ngā rauemi katoa o tēnei kōrero

Me pēnei te tohu i te whārang

Gerard Hutching, Possums – Impact on native animals, Te Ara – the Encyclopedia of New Zealand, https://teara.govt.nz/mi/video/16899/possum-eating-a-chick (accessed 4 June 2026).

He kōrero nā Gerard Hutching, i tāngia i te 1 March 2009, updated 1 July 2015.

Comments

Cory
21 October 2023
Notice how the camera angle is not showing what's inside the nest. But it's positioned tonthebside to make it look like the possum is "eating".
Dean Smith-Holley
01 September 2020
I can only find this video to prove possums are eating all our birds, there must be hundreds of these video's ? One
Carole Long
12 June 2020
Until this technology became available we were assured that possums were totally vegetarian - and if you have heard a kokako song you would realise just how much we lose when chicks are killed.