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Opossum
Didelphis virginiana
33.0363, -96.7126
Field Notes
Description:
Mammal the size of a large cat or small dog with a long prehensile tail to hang & climb with. Black-brown leathery small ears, black eyes, five toe on each foot, light grayish thick fur, with patches brown. Pink gums with white very sharp needle teeth, and a long snout and a pink nose.
Habitat:
Nocturnal, sleeps during the day, out and about foraging & hunting for bugs and rodents at night, omnivorous. Sleeps in empty logs, wood piles and in this case in the center cradle of a Bradford pear tree.
Notes:
One midday, I investigated and saw a curled up ball of clean thick fluffy white-creamy grayish fur and two dark brown-black leathery bat-like ears sticking out. I gingerly touched the ball and the poor opossum awoke with a wobbly jerk. It let out a little hiss showing its pretty clean pink gums and pristine teeth. I backed down and left it alone, only to see it at night, through a window, as it wobbled off in the yard into the dark. We affectionately named her/it "Rosebud".
Found out opossums don't generally carry rabies, its the skunks and armadillos that do. Opossums take care of the mice and rats and other insect pests.
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