Virginia Opossum

A mammal that is almost as reviled as rats is our Virginia Opossum. The similarity between possums and rats goes a little further, with the pointy nose and tail appearing naked. It is even speculated that many of the reports of inner-city 'rats as large as cats' myths comes from someone seeing a possum scurry away in a dark, unexpected place.



This is the second possum that Joy and I have seen out and about this month during the daylight. They don't seem too concerned with our presence... This one was at Muscatatuck on Saturday. To me, they are cute in their own way. I have held baby possums at the Salamonie Nature Center, and they went a long way towards changing my perception. (Most of the time we encounter them is as roadkill or when they are cornered and threatened near our place of residence.)



He (she) found something to eat in the soil while we were watching. Maybe it was a worm. Zooming in on the picture made it look more like a salamander (black color and not quite round shape), but I could not see any legs to convince myself. One of the more interesting facts about possums is that they typically have 13 nipples, arranged in a circle of 12 with one in the middle.