I have seen them (two of them) outside my glass door but they were acting very alive. I didn’t know what they were as we’d recently moved there. First impression was “there are huge rats outside!” But yes, they are different, and now I’m used to them. Mostly don’t see them and they seem to keep to themselves. Cute little guys…
Meanwhile, this has been bothering me. Is an oppossum just a possum or is it like anti-matter and matter and it would be very bad to mix oppossums and possums unless you needed to power the warp drive.
@pmarin Although possums are quite ugly, I do not discourage them from being around my property (unlike groundhogs, armadillos, copperheads…). Possums are voracious consumers of ticks, which are in abundance around central Missouri.
Opossum generally refers to the American group. Possum refers specifically to the Australian group of the Phalangeriformes. They do share many traits in common, including the pouch and the prehensile tail. But they are otherwise separated by millions of years of evolution.
This possum was perched on this fence gate for quite some time. I thought it was an odd spot for it to linger and play possum.
I have seen them (two of them) outside my glass door but they were acting very alive. I didn’t know what they were as we’d recently moved there. First impression was “there are huge rats outside!” But yes, they are different, and now I’m used to them. Mostly don’t see them and they seem to keep to themselves. Cute little guys…
Meanwhile, this has been bothering me. Is an oppossum just a possum or is it like anti-matter and matter and it would be very bad to mix oppossums and possums unless you needed to power the warp drive.
@pmarin Although possums are quite ugly, I do not discourage them from being around my property (unlike groundhogs, armadillos, copperheads…). Possums are voracious consumers of ticks, which are in abundance around central Missouri.
@pmarin Had no idea; found this
Opossum generally refers to the American group. Possum refers specifically to the Australian group of the Phalangeriformes. They do share many traits in common, including the pouch and the prehensile tail. But they are otherwise separated by millions of years of evolution.