Author: RoAnn Bishop
While driving to work this morning, I saw a dead possum lying on the roadside. At least, I think it was dead. You know how possums like to try to fool you.
Anyway, it got me to thinking about possums. In the 1730s, John Brickell described the possum in his book, The Natural History of North Carolina, as the “wonder of all Land Animals.” Now, that made me wonder about Brickell because we’re talking about a critter that often becomes roadkill. Still, you’ve got to give the possum credit. It’s the only marsupial on this continent. It’s also the oldest native mammal in North America, having appeared near the end of the dinosaurs’ reign, about 80 million years ago. And, with its black beady eyes, tiny pink hands and feet, naked tail, and toothy grin, it’s so ugly it’s cute!
The primitive possum evolved into many forms, but all eventually disappeared except for one genus, Didelphis, which survives as today’s opossum. Contrary to more highly evolved marsupials elsewhere, the possum isn’t only surviving, it’s thriving. While found only in the South during precolonial times, it can be seen today from Canada to California, living in both wilderness and urban areas.
So, what has made the possum such a success? One thing is its high reproductive rate. Just thirteen days after conception, a female will bear from four to 24 babies. Blind and hairless with undeveloped hind feet and tail, they’re literally embryos, each measuring only a half-inch long and weighing about the same as a paper match.
These tiny newborns must make their way, unaided, into the pouch on their mother’s stomach and latch onto one of her 13 pinhead-size nipples. Failure to do so means death. At about two months, the babies leave the pouch and ride on their mother’s back. By the third month, they are weaned and on their own.
Another key to the possum’s success is its unique behavior when faced with danger. Slow-witted and slow runners, possums apparently don’t understand “fight or flight.” They simply play dead. Studies have shown that “playing possum” is not really a “feint” but a true “faint.” When threatened, the animal enters a catatonic state in which its breathing and heartbeat are barely perceptible. When the threat subsides, the possum revives.
I wonder if I’ll see this morning’s possum while driving home later today. Hopefully, it will have revived.
