Scientists say a white possum, only found in far north Queensland, could be the world's first mammal to be made extinct by global warming.
The rare tree-dwelling lemuroid possum is native to the Daintree, north of Cairns, and has not been seen for three years.
Professor Steve Williams from James Cook University says the temperature in the area has increased by nearly one degree Celsius since the last time the lemuroid possum was seen and other species could be in danger.
"We haven't seen any now for three years despite some fairly intensive looking in the last month or so," he said.
"We have good reason to suspect that it's very susceptible to increased temperatures so now we're very worried that the population has declined significantly due to global warming.
"If it really is a sign of things to come it makes me very worried that the rest of our predictions will also come true and they're very catastrophic.
"We could lose more than 50 per cent of all of the unique species in the region."
