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Information on close interactions between wild animals is difficult to obtain for cryptic species, but is important for understanding their social and mating systems as well as the dynamics of directly transmitted diseases.

The persistence of bovine tuberculosis (Tb) in New Zealand is enhanced by the presence of wildlife hosts for the infection, principally the brushtail possum Trichosurus vulpecula. Quantifying the relationship between the frequency of contacts and possum population density is important for understanding the dynamics of the disease and the potential effectiveness of different methods for disease control.

We used novel proximity data loggers to record contacts (< 40 cm distance) between individual male and female wild‐living brushtail possums over 3 years at three different sites with a range of habitats and population densities.

Most contacts between male and female possums appeared to …