Status: Least Concern
While this guy does look like the silliest squirrel you ever did see, he’s actually a Striped Possum (Dactylopsila trivirgata), a marsupial that’s more closely related to the sugar glider. Those conspicuous buck teeth are necessary when it comes to finding and eating the main staple of its diet – insect larva.
The Striped Possum is in fact thought of as a “mammalian woodpecker” because it has a peculiar trick up its sleeve to find tasty baby bugs: the possum will detect larva hidden underneath tree bark by rapidly drumming along branches with the toes of its forefoot. Then, once a change in sound is detected, the creature uses its funny-looking incisors to rip off the bark and pluck the larva out using its specially elongated fourth finger. The fourth finger has an unusual hooked nail which it uses to easily extract insects out of small cracks.
So, while its appearance might seem a bit odd to you and me, the particular features of the Striped Possum come in super handy when it’s meal time!
