vignettes there's an opossum in my kitchen

8/9/2019 VIGNETTES There's an Opossum in My Kitchen

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There's an Opossum in My Kitchen!

One evening my next-door neighbor was working at her kitchen sink when she heardsomething wolfing food from the cats' dish nearby. Unaccustomed to such tablemanners from her cats, she turned to find that a wild opossum had apparently pushedopen the screen door, as her cats were wont to do, and made itself at home. Wisely

waiting until the opossum had finished the cats' food, my neighbor then shooed itoutside with a broom. (If you find an opossum inyourhouse, treat it with caution.They have fifty large, very sharp teeth.)

Like the turkey vulture [See my vignette, "Turkey Vultures"] the opossum is aspecies that was strictly southern during my youth. But its been spreading steadilynorthward. Its range has extended into Ontario, Canada, and its been found farthernorth than Toronto.

I had heard that opossums were in our area (Cape Ann), but my first sightingcame one night in 1993 when I put out some leftover tuna salad for my next-doorneighbor's cats. Just after retiring, I heard the bowl bumping about on the porch and


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looked through the bedroom window to see an opossumeating the tuna salad. I rapped on the window. It merelyglanced at me, and continued eating, suggesting that it wasthe same opossum that had waltzed into my neighbor'skitchen. Or are they all so bold?

There are more than 60 different species ofopossum, often called possum. My visitor was a Virginiaopossum (Didelphis virginiana), the only marsupial inNorth America. It's descended from animals so ancientthat their fossil remains date back seventy million years.

Ancestors of the opossums you may see in your backyardsroamed the Earth with the great dinosaurs.

The opossum is found in any areas with trees,including cities. Color varies from almost white to almost black, but is mostcommonly gray. The tail is a foot long, hairless, and prehensile. The opossum has apointed pink nose, prominent whiskers, and small black hairless ears with white tips.Overall body length is 27-33 inches.

The opossum is an excellent climber. It forages on the ground and in the trees,primarily at night. It doesnot hang by its tail from branches. It eats snakes, frogs,mice, fish, worms, insects, eggs, fruits, nuts, and seeds, not to mention cat food andtuna salad.

In warm climates opossums have two litters each year. Gestation is onlythirteen days. A litter can number up to twenty-five, but with only thirteen teats in themother's pouch, only this many can survive. The actual number leaving the pouch isusually half that. Once out of the pouch, the young cling to the mother's back or tail.Theyre on their own by the age of four months.

It's true thatopossums feign death

when attacked, but onlyas a last resort. When anopossum senses dangerfrom a predator andcannot escape, it willbluff by sounding a nastygrowl, a horrific hiss,salivating, and baring itsmany sizeable teeth. Ifthe bluff fails and thepredator makes contact,the opossum plays dead.This may last from fortyminutes to four hours.During this time, theopossum lies on its side Adept tree-climbers, possums spend much time aloft. Photo Hop e Ryden.


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and becomes stiff. The eyes remainwide open and glaze over, theopossum drools, the tongue lolls outof the mouth, and green anal fluid(reportedly foul smelling) may be

exuded. Feigning death may helpan opossum survive an attack,because some predators ignoredead prey. The musky odor of theanal fluid may also help to repelpredators. "Playing possum" mustsucceed more often than not, oropossums would probably have longago become extinct.

Wildlife biologists have yet todetermine whether feigning death is

voluntary or involuntary. Once the threat is removed, the opossum makes good itsescape, though it may wait for about twenty minutes to make certain the predator hasleft the area.

My sources (most of them universities) are divided on whether opossumsactually enter a catatonic state or merely fake it. Experiments using an electro-encephalogram have shown that opossums "playing possum" are not in a trance orcataleptic state, but are wide awake and ready to escape at the first opportunity. Still,

you'll find just as many sources stating that opossums enter a catatonic state; not aconscious act of pretending, but a genetically programmed reflex action.

Nowhere have I been able to find out why predators respond as they do to the

opossum's ruse. Source after source states that this habit of defense is successfulbecause predators don't often attack or eat dead animals. I can understand a predatornot wanting to eat carrion, but the nose knows that a "death feigning" opossum isclearly a fresh "kill." Possibly the anal fluid it secretes, described by one source asmusky, is enough to repel predators. It seems to work for garter snakes, and I neverfound the smell all that bad.

One source even states that "playing possum' works because predators don'talways eat their prey as soon as they capture it. From the opossum viewpoint, that's areally long shot. Another source states that predators are adapted for eating only liveanimals. Were left to assume that opossums knowwhich animals shun dead prey.

But of course an opossum feigning death still has a heartbeat, audible to anypredator, so it's highly unlikely that predators really buy into the "dead possum" ruse.The success of "playing possum" must relate to the sudden removal of stimuli thatkeep predators attacking. For example, in childhood I was taught never to run awayfrom dogs, because flight provokes attack. Similarly, people attacked by grizzly bearsfare better if they crouch in a fetal position with their arms covering their heads. Theymay suffer severe bites and claw wounds, but usually the bears seem to lose interestand walk away. Of course, this behavior may succeed only because humans are not

Playing Possum photo from Wikipedia


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among a bear's natural prey. I doubt it would work for a deer.Although new on the scene hereabouts, opossums are more welcome

additions than skunks and raccoons. They carry fewer diseases than the averagehousehold pet, and are more resistant to rabies than any other animal, wild ordomestic. Theyre also immune to the venom of most pit vipers, and prey on thesesnakes where theyre available. Scientists hope to turn the opossum's immunities tohuman benefit.

By no means do opossums have exclusive rights to "playing possum." Hognosesnakes feign death when attacked. Death feigning has also been observed in turkey

vultures, ducks, rodents, and amphibians. Among the many insects, bugs andarachnids that feign death are harvestmen (daddy long legs), blue death-feigningbeetles, harlequin bugs, most spiders, giant water bugs, at least one ant species (fromCosta Rica), and click beetles.

Speaking of bold animals (as I was at the beginning of this vignette), on 16 June2001 I saw a woodchuck cross Route 133 and Ipswich Common in broad daylightamidst heavy traffic. Another woodchuck often feeds outsideLobsta Land, one of myfavorite restaurants, located on a Gloucester salt marsh off Route 128 on the south sideof the Annisquam Bridge. Lobsta Land's resident woodchuck seems oblivious to thediners who gather at the windows to watch it. The resident mockingbird isnt sotolerant. It attacked me once for watching it through a window.

Opossum and lizard in bush at night. Copyright holder has released this into the public domain.


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vignettes there's an opossum in my kitchen

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