WEBVTT - BrainStuff Classics: Why Are Opossums Awesome?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to Brainstuff, a production of iHeartRadio. Hey brain Stuff,

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<v Speaker 1>Lauren Vogelbomb here with another classic episode for you. In

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<v Speaker 1>this one, we delve into the wonders of the North

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<v Speaker 1>American apossum, one of my very favorite trash eating marsupials.

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<v Speaker 1>Hey brain Stuff, Lauren Vogelbomb Here. If you live in

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<v Speaker 1>North America, you've probably seen a Virginia apossum, a classification

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<v Speaker 1>to Delphis Virginiana. Maybe the unfortunate creature was dead on

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<v Speaker 1>the road, or maybe it was very much alive on

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<v Speaker 1>your porch eating garbage in the middle of the night.

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<v Speaker 1>But in either case you might have thought, oh, gross,

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<v Speaker 1>a possum. But you would have been off base on

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<v Speaker 1>several counts. First of all, possums live in Australia and

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<v Speaker 1>are also a marsupial, which means they raise their young

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<v Speaker 1>in a pouch like a kangaroo. But there are completely

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<v Speaker 1>different species and the animal currently snuggling with a half

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<v Speaker 1>eaten bag of Dourrido's at the bottom of a curbside

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<v Speaker 1>trash can in North Carolina, which is correctly and a possum.

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<v Speaker 1>We spoke with Richard Otsfeld, senior scientist at the Carrey

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<v Speaker 1>Institute of Ecosystem Studies in Millbrook, New York. He said,

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<v Speaker 1>folks get very confused about this.

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<v Speaker 2>I've had people tell me triumphantly that they discovered building

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<v Speaker 2>plans for possum nest boxes and that they planned to

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<v Speaker 2>install dozens of them to encourage a possums to multiply

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<v Speaker 2>on their property. But when I looked up the plans,

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<v Speaker 2>they were designed for brush tailed possums in Australia, completely

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<v Speaker 2>useless for possums in North America. So with that part settled,

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<v Speaker 2>A possums aren't that gross, even if they wouldn't mind

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<v Speaker 2>taking that moldy pad tie from the back of your

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<v Speaker 2>refrigerator off of your hands. They may look a little creepy,

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<v Speaker 2>what with that long, hairless, prehensile tail, the mouthful of

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<v Speaker 2>haphazard teeth, and the beady eyes, but A possums are

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<v Speaker 2>the fastidiously groomed and most likely disease free wildlife heroes

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<v Speaker 2>of your neighborhood. It's a common misconception, possibly prompted by

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<v Speaker 2>their bumbling swagger, that A possums often carry rabies or

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<v Speaker 2>a distemper. In fact, they rarely get these diseases because

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<v Speaker 2>their body temperature is too low to make them susceptible.

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<v Speaker 2>Not only do a possums not carry these diseases, the

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<v Speaker 2>presence of an apossum in your yard is your best

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<v Speaker 2>bet for combating lime disease. A two thousand and nine

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<v Speaker 2>study explored whether black legged ticks the disease vector four

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<v Speaker 2>lime disease might be regulated by wildlife that they parasitize.

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<v Speaker 2>Of fifteen forest dwelling mammals and ground nesting birds, a

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<v Speaker 2>possums were the only ones to destroy the vast majority

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<v Speaker 2>of all of the black legged ticks that tried to

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<v Speaker 2>feed on them, over ninety five percent. Ostfeld, who co

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<v Speaker 2>authored the study, said, our calculations indicated that a single

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<v Speaker 2>apossum is capable of killing several thousand larval ticks per

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<v Speaker 2>week during the late summer peak. We also know that

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<v Speaker 2>of those ticks that do successfully feed on an apossum,

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<v Speaker 2>only a small fraction will become infected with the lime

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<v Speaker 2>disease Bacterium, so apossums are protective in two ways, killing

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<v Speaker 2>ticks and preventing infection. A study by the same research team,

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<v Speaker 2>published in July twenty eighteen and the journal Ecology, found

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<v Speaker 2>that tick borne disease risk was reduced in areas where

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<v Speaker 2>a possums were present. For an animal that does more

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<v Speaker 2>than its fair share of hobbling into traffic and is

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<v Speaker 2>known for flopping over like a corpse at the mere

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<v Speaker 2>swiff of danger, apossums are perhaps surprisingly intelligent to begin with.

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<v Speaker 2>Weak eyesight and a nocturnal nature both contribute to the

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<v Speaker 2>fact that you're probably more familiar with the sight of

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<v Speaker 2>a dead apossum than a live one. In addition, their

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<v Speaker 2>primary defense mechanism, playing dead is almost entirely involuntary, a

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<v Speaker 2>reaction to extreme stress that leaves the apossum in a

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<v Speaker 2>coma for a few minutes to a couple of hours,

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<v Speaker 2>and a comatose possum can take a beating that would

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<v Speaker 2>kill other animals their size. This, then, is a great

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<v Speaker 2>strategy if your mortal enemy is a bear, but not

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<v Speaker 2>so great if it's a toyota. So, if, for example,

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<v Speaker 2>your dog corners on a possum one night in the backyard,

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<v Speaker 2>don't worry. The apossum may hiss and show its teeth

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<v Speaker 2>at an attempt to look scary because it's frightened, but

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<v Speaker 2>the last thing at wants is to tangle with your

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<v Speaker 2>four legged friend, it will invary, lay down, and play

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<v Speaker 2>dead until the threat gets bored and passes A. Possums

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<v Speaker 2>are non aggressive, docile creatures, far more afraid than they

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<v Speaker 2>are to be feared, and they're also fastidiously clean. Like cats,

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<v Speaker 2>opossums are constantly grooming themselves with their paws and tongue,

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<v Speaker 2>partly in order to make sure they're parasite free, but

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<v Speaker 2>also to keep themselves cool. They lack sweat glands, so

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<v Speaker 2>grooming is like apossum air conditioning, and they do it

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<v Speaker 2>to keep themselves smelling like well nothing. As we've established, A,

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<v Speaker 2>possums aren't great at protecting themselves in a stand off

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<v Speaker 2>with a predator, so it behooves them to stay odor neutral.

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<v Speaker 2>Part of the reason apossums have the reputation for being

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<v Speaker 2>smelly has to do with one other defense mechanism, the

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<v Speaker 2>smell of death. Once an a possum goes into its

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<v Speaker 2>theatrical coma, if a predator continues to mess with it,

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<v Speaker 2>the apossum may excrete a smelly mucus from glands in

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<v Speaker 2>its anus. This has been to signal, hey, this a

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<v Speaker 2>possum is definitely dead, and possibly so entirely dead that

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<v Speaker 2>it'll make you sorry you ate it. Speaking of assum

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<v Speaker 2>are really smart about what they eat, because it turns

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<v Speaker 2>out they have great memories. Once an aposum tastes a

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<v Speaker 2>chemical that doesn't agree with it, it will remember and

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<v Speaker 2>avoid the smell of it for a year afterwards. Though

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<v Speaker 2>a possums are immune to some things that would poison

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<v Speaker 2>other mammals, including most snake venoms. Apossums are biologically fascinating,

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<v Speaker 2>which led to some confusion among early Europeans in the

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<v Speaker 2>New World. Their story was the male apossum made it

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<v Speaker 2>through the female apossum's snout, which led to her sneezing

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<v Speaker 2>out her babies into her marsupial pouch. Of course, this

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<v Speaker 2>is not scientifically accurate, but apossums definitely do things a

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<v Speaker 2>little differently. First of all, a male apossum has a

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<v Speaker 2>forked penis, but it's not meant for the female's nostrils.

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<v Speaker 2>Female apossums have a double vagina and twin uteri. Apossum

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<v Speaker 2>embryos develop for about thirteen days until they are large

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<v Speaker 2>enough to migrate down the birth canal and emerge about

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<v Speaker 2>the size of houseflies. To continue developing in the mother's

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<v Speaker 2>pouch Although dozens of them will be born, the mother

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<v Speaker 2>only has thirteen teeth, so that's probably how many will

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<v Speaker 2>be able to survive into adulthood. Today's episode is based

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<v Speaker 2>on the article of possums so darn ugly They're adorable

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<v Speaker 2>on how stuffworks dot Com, written by Jeslynshields. Brain Stuff

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<v Speaker 2>is production by Heart Radio in partnership with how stuffworks

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<v Speaker 2>dot Com, and it is produced by Tyler Klang.

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