CreatureData

Ornate cuscus

Phalanger ornatus (Gray, 1860)

LCLeast Concernmarsupials

The ornate cuscus (Phalanger ornatus) is a species in the family Phalangeridae, order Diprotodontia. Recorded adults weigh 1.79 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.

Ornate cuscus (Phalanger ornatus)
Photo: J. Jennens · Public domain · Wikimedia Commons

Quick facts about the ornate cuscus

Weight
1.79 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 ornate 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 ornate 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 ornate cuscus?

Quoted from WikipediaCC BY-SA 4.0

The ornate cuscus or Molluccan cuscus (Phalanger ornatus) is a species of marsupial in the family Phalangeridae. It is endemic to Indonesia, where it is found on the North Maluku islands of Halmahera, Bacan and Morotai, at elevations from sea level to 1,000 m (3,300 ft).

From the Wikipedia article “Ornate cuscus” (en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Ornate_cuscus&oldid=1314857424), 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 ornate cuscus endangered?

The ornate 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 ornate cuscus classified?

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. phylumChordata
  3. classMammalia
  4. orderDiprotodontia
  5. familyPhalangeridae
  6. genusPhalanger
  7. SpeciesPhalanger ornatus (Gray, 1860)

Synonyms Cucus ornatus, Cuscus ornatus

Other names and names in other languages (13)
  • Moluccan cuscusEnglish
  • Moluccan cuscusEnglish
  • كسكس مزخرفArabic
  • Molukken-KuskusGerman
  • Cuscús de las MolucasSpanish
  • molukkienkuskusFinnish
  • Couscous des MoluquesFrench
  • Kuskus KuningIndonesian
  • Kuskus MalukuIndonesian
  • カザリクスクスJapanese
  • pałanka strojnaPolish
  • Cuscus-das-Ilhas-MolucasPortuguese
  • Украшенный кускусRussian

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataIUCN Red List

Relatives of the ornate cuscus

Other species in the same genus Phalanger.

CR, Critically Endangered

Telefomin cuscus

Phalanger matanim

PhalangeridaeNo free photo yet

CompareOrnate cuscus vs Ground cuscusOrnate cuscus vs Northern common cuscusOrnate cuscus vs Mountain cuscusOrnate cuscus vs Telefomin cuscus

Common questions

Answered only where our data holds the answer.

How big is the ornate cuscus?

An adult ornate cuscus weighs 1.79 kg – 2.29 kg, according to values recorded on Wikidata.

Where does the ornate cuscus live?

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

Is the ornate cuscus endangered?

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

How long does the ornate cuscus live?

The ornate cuscus has a recorded lifespan of 4.08 years.

How long is the ornate cuscus pregnant?

The recorded gestation period is 13 days.

What kind of animal is the ornate cuscus?

The ornate cuscus (Phalanger ornatus) 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). Ornate cuscus (Phalanger ornatus). Retrieved from https://creaturedata.com/animals/ornate-cuscus

MLA

“Ornate cuscus (Phalanger ornatus).” CreatureData, 2026, https://creaturedata.com/animals/ornate-cuscus.

BibTeX
@misc{ornate_cuscus_2026,
  title = {Ornate cuscus (Phalanger ornatus)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/ornate-cuscus},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}