Opossum

OPOSSUM

NATURE'S MODEL T

By Pete Barrett

Anyone who has seen what my Southern friend Emmett Gowen calls a “passel of possums” has witnessed the unique in animal transportation. An old lady possum will come trudging along on flat feet while her family rides up top, rubbernecking like typical country kids. Sometimes there will be six or seven beady-eyed youngsters hanging on to fistfuls of fur in opposing rows along their mother's back.

It is a slightly swayful ride, but the passengers never seem to mind. Perhaps they know that no other creature in the country travels in such plushy elegance, cradled between the axles, so to speak.

You could say that the mother possum serves as a roadster, since she has a rumble seat too, even if this is underneath in the form of a pouch. Once when I surprised a possum family traveling in a group, the mouse-sized youngsters pulled a magic disappearing act. There was a brief, lively scene as they scrambled about the mother's sides, then she appeared alone - her offspring had taken cover in her pouch.

Nearly everything else about the animal is equally astonishing. It produces broods of up to eighteen in only twelve and a half days. The babies are so tiny at birth that an entire litter can be contained in a tablespoon.

Blind, with only the front feet fairly well developed, the mites crawl into their mother's pouch to begin nursing.

As there are at most thirteen nipples and a baby usually remains fixed to the first one it comes to for five or six weeks, casualties occur. In fact, after a month the pouch may contain only seven or eight young. But the survivors are well cared for. Two or three litters are raised in a year.

Possums spend a lot of time in trees and often make their dens in hollow trunks. For the fancy footwork of the treetops, nature has given the animal hind feet that resemble human hands. The big toe can be opposed to the other toes - which have claws for climbing - the way a person's thumb opposes his fingers. But the big toe has a nail. Tracks look like a child's hand prints.

A long scaly tail, which the possum can wrap around a branch, serves as an aerial emergency brake. In fact, the creature can do just about anything with its tail that a monkey can, many feats being attributed to this appendage.

I doubt, though, that a possum ever sleeps while dangling by its tail, as folklore has it. Or that a female ever carries her young suspended over her back, their tails gripping her tail.

A farmer once warned me never to pick up a live possum by the tail. Said it would squeeze my hand in two. I'm sure he believed this.

Possums are night gadabouts and will eat just about anything from bats to blueberries. Because they forage at night and are of a retiring nature, few people realize that the animals are to be found in nearly ever state. Sometimes they succeed in living in almost complete anonymity close to big towns.

Around the turn of the century the possum was considered pretty much a Southern animal. Down in Dixie it had been hunted for generations with any breed of hound that could make music in the night, and still is. But gradually it extended its range, particularly northward. Recently possums have turn up in southern Ontario.

This northward migration has led to certain discomforts. The animals are not true hibernators, and only remain in their dens for a few weeks at a time in bitter weather. In Northern states the nearest hint of a let-up may bring them out, with frostbitten ears and tails as the price. Twice of an early morning near my home in Connecticut I have seen possums with badly split ears, the reward of chilly night work.

The expression “playing possum” - meaning to feign injury or death - has been around so long that many are unaware of its origin. But every possum knows about it and, if forced to, will play the game to the hilt.

I remember the time a friend and I came upon a possum cornered by a farm dog. The possum was backed against a split-rail fence, flashing an ugly mouthful of teeth at the dog. Apparently our presence was just too much, for suddenly the animal fell on its side as if it was dead. I picked it up. The critter was limp as a widow's veil. Shaking it produced no reaction at all.

When I put the possum down its mouth came open and its tongue lolled on the dirt. Death seemed absolute. And the dog showed no interest in the carcass now.

We withdrew a few yards and Howie threw a stick for the dog. A moment later the possum got up and slipped under the fence.

This was an average performance, solid and convincing. There is some medical evidence that the death scene may be a genuine faint brought on by fright. But what about the fortuitous escape? This is always so deft a part of the routine that I prefer to believe it is the act of a master showman. Since the Model T possum gives free rides, why not a free show once in a while?

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I live in Uxbridge Ontario Canada which is just north and east of Toronto. It is cold here now and today was a mixture of howling wind and freezing rain driving in from the south east. Not fit weather for man nor beast BUT...

I looked out our family room patio door and was greeted by an adult possum staring in the window! He didn't seem in any hurry to move along but moved to the side yard by the time I had found my camera. You see - I had never seen a possum except at the zoo. My son-in-law with whom I was speaking on the phone when my furry friend came to visit had never even heard of a possum - he's from England though so I guess that's why!

I called the zoo here to see if this possum was a pet which might have escaped! TheToronto Zoo tells me that the possums are indeed in this area although not plentiful. So - now we have something else to add to the managerie of critters traipsing through our urban backyard.

I must admit I feel a little like I have become part of a Thornton W Burgess story.

ANN

Thanks for sharing your possum story. I just went outside ( at night ) to hang my bird feeder and discovered a possum eating the bird seed. It's February, night time and cold. I have never seen one ever. Are they rare? Thanks.

CORY

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO TELL YOUR OLD TIME TALES OF THE POSSUM OR SOME INTERESTING FACTS, PLEASE FEEL FREE TO EMAIL THEM TO gobacktothebasics@frontiernet.net AND I WILL BE HAPPY TO INCLUDED THEM ON THE PAGE.