Facts about Opposums

In a cruel twist of fate, one of North America's gentlest, most helpful beasts turns out to be the butt ugliest.

Beauty is in the eye of the beholder. IJS

I love these little guys. They get such a bad rap for NO reason. They just want to bumble along, dig around for food, dont bother anyone. Not a threat to people or our domestic pets. Nature’s little gardener.

That was insanely informative. I'm Australian so knew nothing about Opposums except that Daryl in TWD liked to eat them lol Learning they are closely related to kangaroos and that they are marsupials and have a pouch blew my mind! Great vid. 👍

They are one of horses biggest threats. Oppossums are notorious for peeing on hay bales. The horses eat the hay and they get oppossum disease. It's extremely deadly, very expensive to treat and oftentimes they dont recover even after treatment.

Hmm, possum pee, rat pee, raccoon pee, cat pee etc…how can you know what animal is responsible for contaminating the silage?

@TracyLBaker1 There are lab tests. Also, possums pee in the pasture where horses graze.

@TracyLBaker1 So do every other creature that lives in the wild...

@TracyLBaker1 But they don't all carry the particular bacteria that can be fatal to horses. And currently, this topic is about possums. I'm sorry if that bothers you, but it is a fact that does happen to horses.

@TracyLBaker1 Pee from wild animals like rodents, skunks, and opossums is dangerous to horses because it can transmit diseases, most notably Leptospirosis. This bacteria can spread through direct contact with urine, or through contaminated water, soil, or hay.

@SarahWi66057144 Its not a bacteria. Its a parasite that oppossums carry. They poop and pee (like mice, rats, rabbits. Not like dogs or cats), the parasite gets on the hay, the horses eat it and boom.

@SarahWi66057144 Hey knowitall, leptospirosis is a disease caused by bacteria. However, equine protozoal myeloencephalitis is a parasite. I may be a dog but I aced microbiology in graduate school.

Please don’t hurt them

@SquirrelWestend Woke up at 4 am once because my cat was hissing at the bathtub. This was in the tub

@AnneJohn9988 My daughter raised an opossum after seeing its mother get hit by a car.

They are super cool.

I love them! Their fur is so soft! I love their googly eyes too 😂

Ok cool you could have informed us without stressing the Opposum out, and not picking it up?

So I thought all Opposums couldn’t get rabies. I didn’t know it had to do with their body temp tho. So is it more likely for ones who live in warmer places to get rabies? I’m just curious but I guess I can look it up. And yes I know body temperature is different than outside temperature but outside temperature can affect body temperature. Idk I’m just curious is all. Don’t yall start trolling me over my question 🤣 I’ll be surprised if I don’t have about 3 people calling me an idiot on here lol

Legit question...A possum's normal body temperature is about 94-97F or 34-36C, which is lower than most other mammals.

Oh wow. I know a few people who have lower body temps at around 96F. I wonder if they would have an easier time getting rid of rabies lol 🤷🏻‍♀️ I always thought opossums had some other kind of defense to rabies. Had no idea it was body temperature 😯

Rabies is an interesting virus in the neuroscience world as it is highly neurotropic. Rabies virus travels via the peripheral nerves to the spinal cord and ascends to the brain. After reaching the brain, the virus travels via peripheral nerves to the salivary glands and other

organs. If an animal is capable of transmission via its saliva, virus will be detectable in the brain. Virus is shed intermittently in the saliva.

Generally, non-mammalian animals such as birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish do not have the necessary cell surface receptors for the rabies virus to bind to and infect their cells.

Wow! 😮 you made me realize I know next to nothing about rabies and I’m definitely going to be doing some research on it now 😝 thank you

Loved the facts and info. Wish you had maybe just shown a picture, and discouraged people from picking them up and handling them. No reason to terrify them.

Why did I like this so much? I need more random information.

Thanks for this informative video ! We found one playing dead at my doorstep last week , scare me the hell out .

My dog tried to adopt a baby opossum and bring her in the house once. (She was a rescue, who had been used as a breeder, treated stuffed animals as her litter at first). We reunited them with their Mama.

I love them and always feed our back yard possums. They love cut up fruit and any leftovers. Helpful little critters. 🩵

I raised a tiny possum whose Mom was hit by a car. She rode around in my hand with her tail wrapped around my wrist. Sweet and loving. Her best friends were a tiny fox terrier and a baby duck. They grew up as friends. She lived in the woods behind our farm house when grown. Sweet

We have one in the neighborhood, we call it the pointy nose cat because it’s always eating the cat food we leave out for our little feral cat

They eat mice- which is great- they are also immune to snake venom

@EnoughForWe Thought I was feeding a cat at night. Nope. Thanks for your video to educate people about these beautiful animals.

More cool facts about animals please. It's a great change from the bad news we always get.

Why would anyone want to kill one when they eat ticks? Supper Cool critter!

Interesting facts about Lime disease

Statements by a person but with no links to evidence…hmmm

Says a cattle dog

Opossum is minding it's own affairs and along comes some doofus to pick it up and start yapping, "Possums eat like a thousand fleas every day and they play possum when they're scared..." I notice he's holding it by the scruff of it's neck which means the possum will bite him.

Yeah, I know what you mean...

Many years ago, we had a possum who figured out how to come into our kitchen via cat door, to eat the leftovers. My vet assured me that he was clean. The cats were smart enough to wait at the door until he was finished. I admit he chewed loudly.

I love opossums. Me and my father rescued 9 when they were in Mom's oouch when she died. We then released them when they were able to fend for themselves.

So cool! I love possums!

This is a little boy rescue . They also grow pretty fast 😱

Gentle little creature, means no harm.

Thx Very valuable animal in our area Cute fellow

Was I the only one who watched this entire video anticipating an opossum attack?

Thanks for showing us the opposum. Lots of us think they're cute. Years ago ( before coyotes ) we used to leave dry cat food and mom possums would come to chow down.

Thanks for the lesson. They’re super cute, and those were fun facts I didn’t know.

I rescued a baby one. So cute.