The other night while watching TV, I thought of the new ice cream I’d bought that day and wanted to try it. I got the container out of the freezer, dipped a couple scoops into a bowl, and stepped back into the garage to return the package to the freezer. I heard a noise and looked toward the open window that had no screen. A possum was looking back at me. We surprised each other and it dropped out of sight.
That encounter made me curious. As a farm kid, I had always gotten glimpses of possums but I didn’t know much about them. As usual, I turned to the internet.
The window is 4 1/2 feet off the ground but the possum’s rat tail acts like another arm while climbing. Its beady eyes appeared black because the nocturnal animal has such large pupils.
The animal’s most famous characteristic is playing dead. They can’t choose it–it’s a response when in fear of predators such as foxes or bobcats. They not only are inert but they produce the putrid odor of a corpse.
According to the Washington Department of Fish & Wildlife, the possum is known as the most sanitary animal in nature. Like house cats, they frequently use their tongues and paws to groom themselves, rendering them odorless.
Possums gobble up about 90 percent of the ticks that attach to them unlike other mammals that may spread Lyme disease. According to the National Wildlife Federation, a single possum consumes 5,000 of the parasites per tick season. They are immune to most forms of snake venom so they see a serpent as a neat meal. The marsupials have a lower body temperature so they aren’t suited to the rabies virus.
Do you stop for a possum crossing the road in front of your car?