CreatureData

Northern common cuscus

Phalanger orientalis (Pallas, 1766)

LCLeast Concernmarsupials

The northern common cuscus (Phalanger orientalis) is a species in the family Phalangeridae, order Diprotodontia. Recorded adults weigh 2.17 kg to 2.29 kg and live up to 4.08 years. Source checklists list it for 1 country: Australia. Its IUCN Red List status is Least Concern.

Northern common cuscus (Phalanger orientalis)
Photo: Joseph Wolf · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the northern common cuscus

Weight
2.17 kg – 2.29 kgsrc for Weight
Length
Not recorded
Lifespan
4.08 yearssrc for Lifespan
Diet
Herbivoresrc for Diet
Longest recorded lifespan
4.1 years
Main food
Not recorded
Habitat
Not recorded
Gestation
13 dayssrc for Gestation
Young per litter or clutch
2src for Young per litter or clutch
Active
At night (nocturnal)src for Active
Lifestyle
Arborealsrc for Lifestyle
Conservation status
Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status
Countries on record
1 countrysrc for Countries on record

Where does the northern common cuscus live?

Countries where Catalogue of Life checklists list the species. Many checklists carry no country data, so the list is often incomplete. It is not a range map.

The northern common cuscus is listed for 1 country.

Australia
  • Listed
  • Not listed
small islands are not drawn at this scale

The same countries as a list

  1. Australia

Listed by: ITIS (scope: global), through the Catalogue of Life.

What is the northern common cuscus?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The northern common cuscus (Phalanger orientalis), also known as the gray cuscus, is a species of marsupial in the family Phalangeridae native to northern New Guinea and adjacent smaller islands, but is now also found in the Bismarck Archipelago, southeast and central Moluccas, the Solomons, and Timor, where it is believed to have been introduced in prehistoric times from New Guinea. It was formerly considered conspecific with the allopatric P. intercastellanus and P. mimicus.

It is hunted for human consumption in New Guinea.

From the Wikipedia article “Northern common cuscus” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Northern_common_cuscus&oldid=1314908072), by Wikipedia contributors, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0 (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0). This block is kept separate from our own text.

Is the northern common cuscus endangered?

The northern common cuscus is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

  1. LCLeast Concern
  2. NTNear Threatened
  3. VUVulnerable
  4. ENEndangered
  5. CRCritically Endangered
  6. EWExtinct in the Wild
  7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species.

How is the northern common cuscus classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classMammalia
  4. orderDiprotodontia
  5. familyPhalangeridae
  6. genusPhalanger
  7. SpeciesPhalanger orientalis (Pallas, 1766)

Synonyms Didelphidis orientalis, Didelphis orientalis

Other names and names in other languages (27)
  • Common PhalangerEnglish
  • Common PhalangerEnglish
  • Gray cuscusEnglish
  • Grey cuscusEnglish
  • Grey cuscusEnglish
  • كسكس شمالي شائعArabic
  • kuskus pruhovanýCzech
  • Grauer KuskusGerman
  • Nördlicher Grauer KuskusGerman
  • WollkuskusGerman
  • CuscSpanish
  • Cuscús de Papúa SeptentrionalSpanish
  • Cuscús GrisSpanish
  • Cuscús OrientalSpanish
  • selkäjuovakuskusFinnish
  • Couscous grisFrench
  • Couscous de la sondeFrench
  • Kuskus CoklatIndonesian
  • Cusco comune settentrionaleItalian
  • ハイイロクスクスJapanese
  • GråkuskusNorwegian Bokmål
  • Witte KoeskoesDutch
  • Grijze KoeskoesDutch
  • Kuskus szaryPolish
  • pałanka szaraPolish
  • Cuscus-Comum-setentrionalPortuguese
  • Пушистый кускусRussian

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the northern common cuscus

Other species in the same genus Phalanger.

CR, Critically Endangered

Telefomin cuscus

Phalanger matanim

PhalangeridaeNo free photo yet

CompareNorthern common cuscus vs Ground cuscusNorthern common cuscus vs Ornate cuscusNorthern common cuscus vs Mountain cuscusNorthern common cuscus vs Telefomin cuscus

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the northern common cuscus?

An adult northern common cuscus weighs 2.17 kg – 2.29 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the northern common cuscus live?

Catalogue of Life checklists list the northern common cuscus for 1 country: Australia. Checklist coverage is uneven, so the true range may be wider.

Is the northern common cuscus endangered?

The northern common cuscus is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List, meaning it is not currently at risk of extinction.

How long does the northern common cuscus live?

The northern common cuscus has a recorded lifespan of 4.08 years.

How long is the northern common cuscus pregnant?

The recorded gestation period is 13 days.

What kind of animal is the northern common cuscus?

The northern common cuscus (Phalanger orientalis) belongs to the family Phalangeridae in the order Diprotodontia.

Sources and how to cite this page

Data as of 2026-11-11. How this page is put together.

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APA

CreatureData. (2026). Northern common cuscus (Phalanger orientalis). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/northern-common-cuscus

MLA

“Northern common cuscus (Phalanger orientalis).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/northern-common-cuscus.

BibTeX
@misc{northern_common_cuscus_2026,
  title = {Northern common cuscus (Phalanger orientalis)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/northern-common-cuscus},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}