I thought this was worth sharing. I found it on our local neighborhood app.
A few fun facts about them - and more - at this website.
Due to an opposum's low body temperature and successful immune system, it is very rare for one to carry rabies.
In northern regions, opossums often have abnormally short tails, the ends are lost due to frostbite.
The Virginia opossum has more teeth than any other North American Mammal - 50 to be exact.
The Virginia opossum is the only marsupial that inhabits the U.S.
A study conducted by a University of Florida researcher, traces the existence of opossums as far back as the extinction of the dinosaurs.
Although many throughout North America refer to native opossums as "possums", the term "possum" technically refers to a classification of marsupials living in Australia, New Guinea and Sulawesi.
More information can be found here.
Thanks for visiting and
I hope your day is a great one!
YES!! More people need to know this. And some people need to stop using them for target practice.
ReplyDeleteTotally agree Ginny, thank you!
DeleteUgly? Hell no...they are so cute!
ReplyDeleteI agree :)
DeleteYour opossums are VERY different to our possums. I delight in ours and would love to see yours.
ReplyDeleteI will have to look up yours again Sue :)
DeleteI didn't know they were so useful! Linda in Kansas
ReplyDeleteHi Linda, I had an inkling but I found out a lot more when researching them for this post :)
DeleteInteresting facts. I don't mind them one bit.
ReplyDeleteLovely! Glad you feel that way :)
DeleteThe possums here scratch car roofs all the time jumping from trees to trees
ReplyDeleteWell, that wouldn't be very well received, all those scratched cars :)
DeleteThey're cute critters.
ReplyDeleteThey are :)
DeleteInteresting post and facts on the Opossum. Take care, have a wonderful day and week ahead!
ReplyDeleteThank you Eileen, I wish you the same :)
DeleteI was on my patio very early one morning drinking my coffee when I felt furr rubbing against my leg...thinking it was our sweet kitty, KiKi...I started petting her. She really seemed to enjoy the affectionate maulings because she twisted around and kept coming back for more. Needless to say, I was stunned into silence...frozen in my seat...I'd been visited by a possum who now knew the gig was up and was persuing new adventures across our lawn.
ReplyDeletePeople shouldn't kill them...they eat fleas and ticks!
hugs
Donna
I loved reading this, what a lovely visit. No, people should not! Hugs from me too :)
Deletewe love our possums and they have really long tails here, we don't have cold to frost their tails. I have always wondered why God made the clean up crews for nature ugly. we need them and they do a great job. we need our vultures/buzzards and look how ugly they are. last year a baby possum fell off of mommas back and our gentle giant Beau carefully carried it to us and laid it down. I said oh I hope it is ok, Bob said it looks dead, I said he is playing possum I hope and he was. bob picked him up by his tail and he started to wriggle and hiss, so he carried him to the corner where mother was last seen, dropped him there and watched him scurry off under the fence.. in our house we love wild critters. the raccoons are really aggravating though. right now they are digging dozens of hole all over the back yard
ReplyDeleteI have often known for a long time that vultures were man's friend but the possum was a new one to me. What a sweet story about Beau, he's an absolute love :) Such an adorable doggy you have there. I didn't know raccoons dug holes.
DeleteGreat information, Denise. We haven't seen possums here much. My parents in southern California had one that would walk along their porch. Funny lookin critters.
ReplyDeleteThank you Ellen, and how interesting about your parent's possum. I haven't seen one in years.
DeleteThe opossum is a little different than many other critters. 50 teeth? Thanks for the description.
ReplyDeleteYou are very welcome and yes, they are very different :)
DeleteGood information to give about opossums – they are very smart. A few years ago we could hear something walking above our bedroom ceiling, under the roof. My husband placed a trap and it was a huge opossum, the size of a little dog. He drove it to a wild area a few miles away. A week later we heard the noise again, another possum, not as large, maybe its mate, so we released it in the wild again so they would not come back, and we repaired the hole in the roof. But there are many opossums in the land between our GA house and the lake. They are very neat little critters.
ReplyDeleteOh my goodness, isn't that amazing? I don't think I have heard of possums taking up residence in the roof of a house, raccoons and squirrels but never a possum. I can see they would though.
DeleteInteresting
ReplyDeleteThank you Christine :)
DeleteI was told that 'possums eat cockroaches!!!! In Texas, that's a good thing.🪳
ReplyDeleteA very good thing :)
DeleteHere in Oklahoma we have lots and lots of oppossums.
ReplyDeleteThat's interesting :) I don't know what the statistics are here in Virginia but I'm sure we have them too. Just don't know where.
DeleteI've never seen one!
ReplyDeleteOnly once or twice I have seen them :)
DeleteInteresting information here, Denise, we have a friend in Virginia who is very fond of possums and in fact used it for her blog name.
ReplyDeleteThat would be cute to have a dog called Possum :)
DeleteThis is interesting. I occasionally see one in my yard!
ReplyDeleteGlad you found it so :) I have ever seen any in ours.
DeleteThis is very interesting, Denise. We had to capture one in our basement to remove to the forest. We trapped it in a box and when I looked in, it snarled fiercely. I've since thought of them as... well... not cute. But now you've shown me their good side.
ReplyDeleteThank you Kay, and that must have been very worrisome. I love wildlife but I don't want the darlings inside our house :)
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