RE: Possums was Anhingas (A Challenge)

[Tim Williams <twilliams_alpha@hotmail.com>]

Don Ohmes wrote:

> Now tell me why possums don't get: stronger, prettier, faster, smarter, or 
> anything else.

You forgot 'hornier'.  Possums are proficient breeders: 13 or more young per 
litter, and can produce 2-3 litters per year.  That's the first reason.

Possums have a "Fear Factor" diet: they eat almost anything.  Their diet 
includes bugs, snails, carrion, trash, as well as fruits and berries.

Possums are also very versatile, and have adapted quite well to urbanization 
(the diet helps).  This has helped them enormously in the modern U.S.

> (What's it been now, =>60 mys?)

I'm a little behind on my Metatheria evolution, but crown-group Didelphidae 
(or Didelphinae) probably first appeared quite a while later than 60 mya.  
The Didelphidae was once used as a wastebasket for primitive-looking 
putative metatherians (like _Alphadon_), and this erroneously stretched the 
record of the family back to the Late Cretaceous.

BTW, in Australia and New Zealand, 'possum' refers to an entirely separate 
group of marsupials, more properly known as phalangers, gliders, and honey 
possums.  The Western Hemisphere possums are more properly known as 
'opossum' or (in some parts of the U.S.) 'dinner'.


Tim