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Virginia Opossum
Popeye was raised by a non-rehabilitator. He was hit by a car as a baby. He sustained head injuries that made him non-releasable.
Popeye was adopted out to a licensed facility at the coast and now does educational programs with them. He has also been on their local news and in the paper twice that we know of. He found a wonderful home and is now educating people about the importance of his species in our ecosystem.
In The Wild
Classification: |
Marsupial |
Native Region: |
Found in most areas of the US. |
Diet: |
Omnivores. Opossums are very opportunistic feeders, they are referred to as "natures sanitation engineers", because they pretty much eat whatever they come across. Feeding on carrion, insects, fruits and vegetables. |
Behavior: |
Virginian Opossums are nocturnal, preferring to come out after dark to find their food and explore the area. Rarely do they sleep in the same place twice. They more or less roam and bed down wherever their wanderings happened to take them that night. |
Social Structure: |
Solitary except during mating season and while joeys are young. |
Interesting Facts: |
These little guys have a very unique defense mechanism called "playing possum". If they are frightened or feel threatened, their body actually goes into a comatose type state, making them appear to all to be dead. At times they will actually emit a green "ooz" that smells like dead and rotting meat. Their paws are actually round in shape, with nail less, opposable thumbs. Their tail is prehensile, though they do not hang from their tail as people tend to believe they do. They do carry things with their tail, and their joeys use theirs and their mother's tails as a way to keep in contact with mom. Once joeys are walking on their own, they will actually all walk along side mom with their tails hooked to hers. |