Playing Possum.

Yesterday night I went to take out the trash and I saw something on the backyard fence that I first thought was a cat. To my surprise, it didn't run away. When it turned its face in my direction I FREAKED OUT. It had a pig-like face, cat-like fur, and a huge-rat like tail. WTF was this creature???!!!

Whatever it was, was NOT cute. Pigs scare me senseless since I watched Saw (they use pig faces as masks in that movie). I guessed that it was an opossum from pictures I've seen in biology books in the past. But I thought they were native to Australia, so what was it doing in my yard? Also, I wondered why it wasn't afraid of me? It didn't even flinch even when I shone a flashlight at it.

So then I did what I do when I'm overwhelmed with questions. I consulted Wikipedia. My most reliable reference. :P Confirmed. It was indeed an opossum. They're native to South America and Canada. On few occasions they're seen in the extreme of North America. Yeah, but not yesterday! Homie got lost and ended up on the west coast.

Anyway, I learned a couple things. One, they're nocturnal, like me :). And according to Wiki, when they feel threatened they will "play possum" and mimik a sick or dead animal. They draw their lips back, bare their teeth, foam at the mouth, and secrete a "foul-smelling fluid from their anal glands." EEW. The whole physiological response is involuntary; they kind of lose consciousness during this time. Allegedly you can even prod, turn over, and carry away the stiffened up animal and it won't do anything.

I would NOT want to poke or prod an animal like that. It's known to be the mammal with greatest number of teeth. Oh, and they're 8x more likely to have rabies than dogs; 1 in 800 opossums are carriers of the disease.

Opossums are attracted to garbabe and persimmons. Both which can be found in my backyard. Great, I don't think thats the last I'll be see of that critter.