Re: Possums (A Challenge)

[Jacquie <jacquieh49@yahoo.com>]

I never post because I'm not a scientist, but I just
have to pipe up here because 'possums, I know (ugh,
nasty creatures). They are MUCH more convincing at
playing dead than a human could ever be - or any other
animal I can think of except maybe a hognose snake.
They go limp, open their mouths, close their eyes,
hang their tongues out and emit an unbelievably
noxious dead smell from an anal gland. Actually, they
emit this smell all of the time on a _very_ slightly
less offensive scale...

When I saw the Discovery channel show about T-Rex that
was made with Dr. Horner's view that T-Rex was a
scavenger and showed him with blood all over his head
and really yucky and dirty looking, the first thing I
thought was, "Ewwwww, they must have smelled like
incredibly big 'possums! I sure am glad they're not
around any more!" :o)

> On Thu, 05 May 2005 13:53:00 -0600 Swift Claw
> <missraptor@deadraccoon.com> writes:
> 
Nobody seems to have mentioned that 'possums play 
dead as a defense against predators instead of running
away from them.  Or is this just an urban myth
devised to confuse Colorado-bound people like me who
have never actually seen one of these creatures?
> 
> --- Phil Bigelow <bigelowp@juno.com> wrote:

> It is used by possums as a last-ditch attempt at
surviving an attack.  If a possum has other options
available, it will use them first.
> 
> Playing dead sometimes works for humans who are
> being attacked by bears,provided that the bear isn't
hungry.  The problem is that most humans aren't mind
readers.  I also suspect that few possums are mind
readers.



                
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