WEBVTT - 9 Awesome Facts about Opossums 0:00:14.560 --> 0:00:17.960 You're listening to Part Time Genius, the production of Kaleidoscope 0:00:18.120 --> 0:00:24.560 and iHeartRadio. Guess what gave? 0:00:24.880 --> 0:00:25.680 What's that mango? 0:00:26.480 --> 0:00:31.280 Do you know that? And apossum and apossum are two 0:00:31.320 --> 0:00:34.200 completely different animals. 0:00:34.800 --> 0:00:37.120 That didn't even sound like two different words. 0:00:37.560 --> 0:00:39.559 I know, I actually thought that as I said it, 0:00:39.640 --> 0:00:41.120 But for a long time I thought it was the 0:00:41.120 --> 0:00:44.120 same animal. It was just like a regional dialect difference. 0:00:44.560 --> 0:00:47.600 Like depending on where you live, a groundhog is also 0:00:47.720 --> 0:00:51.920 called a ground pig, or a marmot, or a woodchuck 0:00:52.159 --> 0:00:54.400 or even a land. 0:00:54.120 --> 0:00:57.040 Beaver land beaver. I don't know about some of those, 0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:00.160 Like how much wood does a ground pig chuck? That 0:01:00.320 --> 0:01:01.840 it doesn't have the same ring to it now? 0:01:02.240 --> 0:01:04.200 Yeah, you know, like trying to determine how much more 0:01:04.240 --> 0:01:07.119 winter there is based on whether land beaver saw its 0:01:07.160 --> 0:01:10.720 own shadow, right, Like, some words just work better than others, 0:01:10.880 --> 0:01:13.959 even if it's the same animal. But back to possums 0:01:14.000 --> 0:01:17.520 and opossums, it turns out they are different words with 0:01:17.760 --> 0:01:22.400 different pronunciations, and they refer to two totally different animals. 0:01:22.680 --> 0:01:24.920 Okay, And which one is it that keeps knocking over 0:01:25.000 --> 0:01:27.440 my trash cans? Because you know, I want to address 0:01:27.480 --> 0:01:29.479 them properly, you know, when I yell out the window 0:01:29.520 --> 0:01:30.080 at them tonight. 0:01:31.440 --> 0:01:34.440 Yeah, So that would be a possums. And those are 0:01:34.480 --> 0:01:36.800 the ones that you and I are familiar with, right, 0:01:36.840 --> 0:01:40.640 like those stumpy little mammals with grayish fur rat like 0:01:40.680 --> 0:01:44.680 tails and pointy white faces that you sometimes see rooting 0:01:44.680 --> 0:01:48.040 through your garbage. And apossums are native to the America's 0:01:48.280 --> 0:01:51.280 and they actually got their name from Captain John Smith, 0:01:51.400 --> 0:01:55.880 the English soldier who helped establish the Jamestown colony in Virginia. 0:01:55.960 --> 0:01:59.800 Wow, so John Smith named the apossum. I don't think 0:01:59.840 --> 0:02:01.640 that that was in my elementary. 0:02:01.160 --> 0:02:04.880 School history books mine either, But in sixteen oh eight, 0:02:05.040 --> 0:02:08.040 Smith wrote the first known English description of the creature, 0:02:08.320 --> 0:02:11.400 and he explained that the local tribes called it an apossum, 0:02:11.840 --> 0:02:16.200 which was his own phonetic approximation of this Algonquin word 0:02:16.360 --> 0:02:17.720 meaning white animal. 0:02:18.040 --> 0:02:21.040 And so what about possums, like, where do they live? 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:25.440 Apparently they live in Australia, But surprise, surprise, their name 0:02:25.560 --> 0:02:29.240 also ties back to European exploration. So more than a 0:02:29.280 --> 0:02:33.120 century after John Smith encountered a possums in the forests 0:02:33.120 --> 0:02:36.480 of Virginia, a totally different group of British explorers made 0:02:36.480 --> 0:02:39.240 their way to Australia and also to New Guinea, and 0:02:39.560 --> 0:02:42.280 one of them was this naturalist. His name was Sir 0:02:42.400 --> 0:02:45.440 Joseph Banks, and during his travels he came across an 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:49.400 animal that resembled the descriptions of American apossums. You know, 0:02:49.639 --> 0:02:52.320 it wasn't a perfect match, right, Like the ones in 0:02:52.320 --> 0:02:55.400 Australia were smaller, they had less pointed snouts. They also 0:02:55.440 --> 0:02:59.119 had big furry tales with no white on their faces. 0:02:59.200 --> 0:03:02.400 So Banks just kind of adjusted the name just a 0:03:02.440 --> 0:03:05.360 little bit, like ever so slightly and called them possums. 0:03:05.400 --> 0:03:08.959 That is so bizarre, Like, let's keep most of the name, 0:03:09.000 --> 0:03:10.880 but we'll just we'll just tweak it a little bit 0:03:11.000 --> 0:03:13.320 so that, you know, Will and Gabe and Mango can 0:03:13.560 --> 0:03:16.440 clarify the differences between the animals on a podcast two 0:03:16.520 --> 0:03:18.320 hundred and fifty years later. 0:03:18.720 --> 0:03:21.880 I know, it really is impressive and I feel honored 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:24.120 that Sir Joseph Banks teed it up for us to 0:03:24.240 --> 0:03:27.160 educate the world two hundred and fifty years later. But 0:03:27.520 --> 0:03:30.600 the strange thing is that they are in fact related, 0:03:31.000 --> 0:03:34.000 Like you know, they are very distant branches of the 0:03:34.040 --> 0:03:37.520 same family tree. That said Australian possums are actually much 0:03:37.560 --> 0:03:40.760 more closely related to kangaroos than they are to a possums, 0:03:41.400 --> 0:03:44.920 And on today's episode, we're actually shining a light purely 0:03:45.040 --> 0:03:48.240 on a possums because these little neighbors of ours are 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:52.320 full of weird surprises and we found nine incredible facts 0:03:52.320 --> 0:04:16.040 about them, so let's dive in. Hey, their podcast listeners, 0:04:16.040 --> 0:04:19.400 welcome to part time genius. I am Monga's articular aka Mango, 0:04:19.680 --> 0:04:23.080 and Will cannot be here today. We miss you will, 0:04:23.160 --> 0:04:26.320 but stepping in to replace them is my good friend, 0:04:26.680 --> 0:04:29.640 researcher for the show, writer for the show, all around 0:04:29.680 --> 0:04:33.680 personality for the show gave Lucy a Hey gave Hi Mango. 0:04:35.600 --> 0:04:38.080 And on the other side of that soundproof glass hanging 0:04:38.240 --> 0:04:41.080 upside down from a pull up bar, that is our 0:04:41.160 --> 0:04:44.320 friend and producer Dylan Fagan. And I should note that 0:04:44.400 --> 0:04:47.039 Dylan hasn't actually done a pull up yet, so I'm 0:04:47.040 --> 0:04:49.920 guessing this is some kind of tribute to the way 0:04:49.960 --> 0:04:52.600 that apossums hang upside down from their tails, right GiB. 0:04:53.040 --> 0:04:56.279 Yeah, they have those prehensile tails that let them hold 0:04:56.320 --> 0:04:59.440 on to things, typically tree branches, not pull up bars. 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:03.280 But it's really only the baby apossums that hang from 0:05:03.320 --> 0:05:06.080 their tails like that. Adult males can weigh up to 0:05:06.160 --> 0:05:09.359 fourteen pounds, so you know, their little tails wouldn't support 0:05:09.440 --> 0:05:11.640 them for very long. So come to think of it, 0:05:11.839 --> 0:05:13.520 maybe they should be doing pull ups. 0:05:14.160 --> 0:05:16.839 That is so weird. I feel like we've been lied 0:05:16.839 --> 0:05:18.680 to by balds cartanists. 0:05:19.000 --> 0:05:22.880 Yeah no, sorry to disappoint. Adultapossums mostly use their tails 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:25.960 to stay balanced, to grip onto tree branches and carry 0:05:26.000 --> 0:05:31.560 nesting materials. And while Australian possums also have big, fuzzy, 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:35.840 prehensile tails, they don't hang upside down at all, even 0:05:35.880 --> 0:05:36.520 as babies. 0:05:36.839 --> 0:05:40.440 You think you know a guy, right, So, Gabe, where 0:05:40.480 --> 0:05:41.680 do you want to start today? 0:05:42.360 --> 0:05:45.600 Why don't we talk about one fact that I sometimes forget, 0:05:45.640 --> 0:05:49.280 which is that a possums are not rodents. Instead, they 0:05:49.320 --> 0:05:52.560 belong to that special class of mammal where the female 0:05:52.600 --> 0:05:55.520 carries and nurses her young in an external pouch on 0:05:55.560 --> 0:05:58.520 her abdomen. You know who I'm talking about, marsupials. 0:05:59.000 --> 0:06:01.680 You know. I always felt like we were cheated as 0:06:01.760 --> 0:06:04.599 kids because it felt like America didn't have its own 0:06:04.600 --> 0:06:07.240 marsupial right, like they were all in Australia. Or whatever else. 0:06:07.279 --> 0:06:09.600 But but like it is really cool that we actually 0:06:09.600 --> 0:06:10.039 have one. 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:12.560 Yeah, I know, yeah, it feels like when you learn 0:06:12.600 --> 0:06:15.760 about marsupials in grade school. Australia really does have the 0:06:15.800 --> 0:06:20.160 monopoly on all the cool critters koalas, wombats, kangaroos, a 0:06:20.240 --> 0:06:23.039 whole bunch of others I can't remember. And you know, 0:06:23.120 --> 0:06:25.919 apossums are kind of this weird outlier because you know, 0:06:25.960 --> 0:06:28.480 they aren't over there. They are actually more than one 0:06:28.560 --> 0:06:32.960 hundred different species of them spread across South and Central America. 0:06:33.400 --> 0:06:35.599 And they've been there for a long time too. Because 0:06:35.640 --> 0:06:39.920 apossums are basically living fossils, they coexisted with the dinosaurs 0:06:40.000 --> 0:06:43.760 and they've changed very little in all that time. I know, again, 0:06:43.800 --> 0:06:46.599 you think you know a guy. But here in North 0:06:46.640 --> 0:06:49.520 America we have a species of our own, and that's 0:06:49.600 --> 0:06:51.040 the Virginia apossum. 0:06:51.440 --> 0:06:55.400 So why does North America have just one species. 0:06:55.160 --> 0:06:58.680 Because so far that's the only species, the only marsupial 0:06:59.000 --> 0:07:02.160 that has managed to north of Mexico on its own. 0:07:02.720 --> 0:07:06.359 The Virginia possum is technically a tropical species, just like 0:07:06.400 --> 0:07:10.200 its southern cousins, but for whatever reason, these little guys 0:07:10.200 --> 0:07:13.880 have pushed further and further north over the last few centuries. 0:07:14.280 --> 0:07:17.440 They were already well established in the southeastern US by 0:07:17.480 --> 0:07:21.920 the seventeenth century, as John Smith showed, and today Virginia 0:07:22.040 --> 0:07:24.880 possums are found as far north as New England, the 0:07:24.960 --> 0:07:27.760 Upper Midwest, and even parts of Canada. 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:31.240 So I love that tenacity, and it also feels very 0:07:31.320 --> 0:07:33.760 on brand for America's marsupial. 0:07:33.840 --> 0:07:36.880 No, yeah, very much. They get around. And also Virginia 0:07:37.000 --> 0:07:40.800 possums are scrappy and not very particular. They'll make a 0:07:40.880 --> 0:07:45.600 den just about anywhere, in trees and burrows or even 0:07:45.600 --> 0:07:50.360 in abandoned buildings, and they'll eat just about anything plants, insects, 0:07:50.520 --> 0:07:54.000 kitchen trash. That adaptability is allowed the species, you know, 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:56.920 to go places where a marsupial really doesn't belong. 0:07:57.560 --> 0:08:00.840 I am curious, like, where don't they belong? 0:08:01.400 --> 0:08:04.440 I mean pretty much anywhere with harsh winters, right, because again, 0:08:04.560 --> 0:08:07.840 these are tropical mammals. They really aren't built for cold 0:08:07.840 --> 0:08:11.960 temperatures like raccoons or foxes. A possum fur is thin 0:08:12.240 --> 0:08:15.800 and sparse, and their tails and ears are completely hairless, 0:08:15.840 --> 0:08:18.000 which you know, we find kind of gross. You know, 0:08:18.040 --> 0:08:20.120 if you ever see an apossum in the springtime with 0:08:20.160 --> 0:08:23.080 a stumpy tail. Cut him some slack because he just 0:08:23.080 --> 0:08:25.920 survived a rough winter and he has the frostbite scars 0:08:25.960 --> 0:08:26.400 to prove it. 0:08:26.760 --> 0:08:29.680 Well. Hopefully my next fact can drum up even more 0:08:29.720 --> 0:08:34.240 goodwill for the Virginia apostlem because it's my absolute favorite. 0:08:34.600 --> 0:08:37.760 Did you know that apossums have thirteen nipples? 0:08:38.200 --> 0:08:39.480 That is news to me? 0:08:41.320 --> 0:08:43.280 I should think you might be, Ah, you might know that. 0:08:44.559 --> 0:08:46.520 I'm not gonna admit it in public. 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:50.040 But this is the one thing I like absolutely remember 0:08:50.080 --> 0:08:52.920 from mental floss. And also I remember that all those 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:54.920 nipples are arranged in a circle. 0:08:55.240 --> 0:08:56.679 Oh, that is so weird. 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:59.319 Why I do want to get to the why. But 0:08:59.679 --> 0:09:02.760 they also have more teeth than any other land mammal 0:09:02.800 --> 0:09:05.640 in North America, which is why those brilliant smiles of 0:09:05.679 --> 0:09:09.720 theirs are, you know, so spectacular and also scary. They 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:12.920 have fifty teeth all stuffed into a really small mouth, 0:09:13.000 --> 0:09:16.040 and that's eight more teeth than wolves actually have. 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:16.600 Wow. 0:09:16.760 --> 0:09:19.760 But I'm going to move off teeth back to nipples. 0:09:20.120 --> 0:09:22.600 How many animals have you heard of with an odd 0:09:22.640 --> 0:09:24.480 number of nipples? Zero? 0:09:25.160 --> 0:09:28.640 But I'm sure it makes wearing a bikini trickier, right, 0:09:28.760 --> 0:09:32.080 and where would you even keep a spare nipple? Like, 0:09:32.320 --> 0:09:34.559 they're all just arranged in a circle, you said, even 0:09:34.600 --> 0:09:35.640 the thirteenth. 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.319 One, well, twelve are laid out in a circular pattern, 0:09:39.200 --> 0:09:40.720 kind of like the numbers on a clock, and the 0:09:40.800 --> 0:09:44.440 thirteenth is actually in the center, which is obviously a 0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:47.720 very strange arrangement. But also the only reason the circle 0:09:47.800 --> 0:09:51.400 arrangement works is because of that external pouch, you know, 0:09:51.520 --> 0:09:54.679 the one that holds those infants all snugly in place 0:09:54.720 --> 0:09:57.080 even when their mom is on the move. Basically, the 0:09:57.200 --> 0:10:01.240 thirteen newborn apossums, which are only about the size of honeybees, 0:10:01.760 --> 0:10:05.440 wedge into that pouch and latch on from all the directions. 0:10:06.160 --> 0:10:08.800 I mean, you gotta admire the efficiency, right. 0:10:09.800 --> 0:10:14.160 Yeah, but it does have a downside. So unlike baby 0:10:14.320 --> 0:10:19.280 placental mammals, which can move around independently between feedings, apossums 0:10:19.280 --> 0:10:23.360 basically remain attached to their mothers for several weeks until 0:10:23.360 --> 0:10:25.680 they're old enough to wean. So even though they have 0:10:25.760 --> 0:10:28.280 litters of twenty or thirty Joey's at a time, and 0:10:28.280 --> 0:10:30.440 I think it's cool that they're called Joey's as well, 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:35.800 the most that can ever survive? Are those lucky thirteen? Oh? 0:10:36.000 --> 0:10:38.280 That? I mean, that's that's pretty sad when you think 0:10:38.320 --> 0:10:38.719 about it. 0:10:39.120 --> 0:10:41.559 Yeah, it is sad. But to make up for it, 0:10:41.679 --> 0:10:43.960 I'm going to give you a vocab gift, which is, 0:10:44.000 --> 0:10:45.480 you know, how we show our love on the show. 0:10:45.800 --> 0:10:49.360 Apparently a group of living, thriving young apossums is called 0:10:49.360 --> 0:10:50.319 a passel. 0:10:50.280 --> 0:10:53.680 A passel of apossums. I like that. But since you 0:10:53.800 --> 0:10:57.040 raise this, you know, very grim specter of apossum death, 0:10:57.400 --> 0:10:59.160 I think now seems like a good time to talk 0:10:59.160 --> 0:11:02.960 about the species knack for pretending to be dead. We've 0:11:03.000 --> 0:11:06.360 all heard the expression playing possum, which refers to someone 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:09.320 feigning death in order to trick an opponent, and I 0:11:09.360 --> 0:11:12.199 guess in this case it should actually be called playing apossum. 0:11:12.640 --> 0:11:16.959 But here's the thing. Apossums aren't trying to deceive anybody 0:11:17.120 --> 0:11:20.520 because they can't actually choose when they play dead. It's 0:11:20.559 --> 0:11:26.400 a completely involuntary response called thanatosis or tonic immobility, and 0:11:26.440 --> 0:11:30.200 it's basically their body's last ditch effort to avoid being eaten. 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:32.360 I like that you're clearing up the fact that they're 0:11:32.360 --> 0:11:34.960 actually very honest creatures and they're not going to trick anyone, 0:11:35.120 --> 0:11:39.280 but work exactly because you know, you think a better 0:11:39.320 --> 0:11:42.360 strategy would be to like just fight or race away, 0:11:42.840 --> 0:11:45.120 you know, pretty much anything but going limp right. 0:11:45.200 --> 0:11:47.680 Well, I mean it works in the apossum's case because 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:51.600 many of its natural predators, like hawks and snakes, prefer 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:54.080 to feed on live prey, and they tend to lose 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:56.760 interest when one of their targets, you know, suddenly keels 0:11:56.800 --> 0:11:59.720 over with its tongue hanging out, and when dealing with 0:11:59.720 --> 0:12:03.240 bread who don't mind a bit of scavenging, like foxes, 0:12:03.559 --> 0:12:06.480 the apossum goes a step further to repel them. It 0:12:06.600 --> 0:12:10.719 actually voids its bowels and excretes a foul smelling mucus 0:12:10.760 --> 0:12:13.559 so that other animals will think it's gone rancid. 0:12:14.280 --> 0:12:18.080 I discuss that is so gross and so clever. 0:12:17.880 --> 0:12:21.280 I guess right, yeah, I mean, it's definitely an effective 0:12:21.360 --> 0:12:24.320 defense system, you know, whether the apossum knows it or not. 0:12:24.760 --> 0:12:27.840 But it's also kind of risky. For instance, an a 0:12:27.880 --> 0:12:32.080 possum's catatonic state can last up to four hours, which is, 0:12:32.240 --> 0:12:34.320 you know, more than enough time for a less picky 0:12:34.360 --> 0:12:37.280 predator to find them. Not to mention there are lots 0:12:37.280 --> 0:12:39.640 of unlucky ones that play dead in the middle of 0:12:39.640 --> 0:12:41.920 the road, and the odds of them waking up before 0:12:41.960 --> 0:12:44.880 a car comes along or slimmed to none. And that's 0:12:44.880 --> 0:12:48.280 a big reason why Virginia apossums only live about two 0:12:48.440 --> 0:12:52.400 years in the wild on average versus ten years in captivity. 0:12:52.760 --> 0:12:54.880 Yeah. I mean, it is sad to think about, but 0:12:55.000 --> 0:12:57.320 I bet a lot of people are mostly familiar with 0:12:57.320 --> 0:13:02.400 the possums as roadkill, right, Dylan, Actually, before this episode, 0:13:02.400 --> 0:13:05.480 pitch me on making a PTG bumper sticker that says 0:13:05.960 --> 0:13:11.440 true patriots break for America's only native marsupial. I didn't 0:13:11.440 --> 0:13:13.679 know what he was talking about before, but now I 0:13:13.679 --> 0:13:16.400 feel like I would slap that sticker on my car 0:13:16.720 --> 0:13:17.080 for sure. 0:13:17.200 --> 0:13:19.160 Yeah, and that reminds me. Have you heard the old 0:13:19.240 --> 0:13:23.320 Southern joke about planked possum aka possum treat? I mean, 0:13:23.360 --> 0:13:26.800 I'm from Delaware, so no, Yeah, fair enough, So that's 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:26.959 a no. 0:13:27.280 --> 0:13:27.559 Okay. 0:13:27.559 --> 0:13:29.800 So this joke is basically, you know, plays on the 0:13:29.840 --> 0:13:33.440 idea that a possum meat isn't that tasty to most people. 0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:38.360 MU probably relate, And it's basically this long winded recipe 0:13:38.400 --> 0:13:41.200 about how to roast an apossum on a wooden board. 0:13:41.600 --> 0:13:44.040 So it goes through all these detailed steps like how 0:13:44.040 --> 0:13:47.000 to make a special glaze and how to parboil this 0:13:47.080 --> 0:13:50.600 like hyper specific yam from East Texas. You gotta get 0:13:50.640 --> 0:13:54.240 that yam. And then the last step, you know, which 0:13:54.280 --> 0:13:56.960 is also the punchline, is that you throw out the 0:13:57.040 --> 0:13:59.400 apossum and eat the board instead. 0:14:00.200 --> 0:14:05.760 Oh, the whole switch through. I got it. Whatever apossum's 0:14:05.880 --> 0:14:09.120 lack and tastiness, they more than makeup for in other ways. 0:14:09.320 --> 0:14:13.280 For instance, did you know that they have secret powers 0:14:13.280 --> 0:14:16.080 of immunity or that one of them was pretty enough 0:14:16.080 --> 0:14:19.240 to be issued an official pardon by a North Carolina governor. 0:14:19.600 --> 0:14:21.360 We're going to be talking about both of those after 0:14:21.400 --> 0:14:23.880 a quick break, so don't go anywhere. 0:14:40.040 --> 0:14:42.880 Welcome back to Part Time Genius, where we're talking about 0:14:42.960 --> 0:14:46.040 nine reasons why apossums are more awesome than you think. 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:49.240 We've got five facts left to go, But if you 0:14:49.240 --> 0:14:51.520 dig the show so far, help us out and subscribe 0:14:51.600 --> 0:14:54.440 on your favorite podcast app. Share this episode with a 0:14:54.440 --> 0:14:57.720 fellow animal lover. We also love hearing from you, so 0:14:57.920 --> 0:14:59.800 let us know if you have a question or idea 0:15:00.120 --> 0:15:02.160 like us to look into you can give us a 0:15:02.200 --> 0:15:05.000 call at three oh two four oh five five nine 0:15:05.080 --> 0:15:08.920 two five, email us at high Geniuses at gmail dot com, 0:15:09.120 --> 0:15:11.520 or come find us on blue Sky and Instagram at 0:15:11.520 --> 0:15:12.680 part time Genius. 0:15:13.080 --> 0:15:14.760 I mean, there are a million ways to get in touch, 0:15:14.840 --> 0:15:18.520 so it feels like people have no excuses, right, I know, just. 0:15:18.520 --> 0:15:21.840 Pick your favorite and uh yeah reach out all right 0:15:21.880 --> 0:15:24.040 and I goo, let's go back to your teas. Before 0:15:24.040 --> 0:15:26.760 the break, you said a possums have some crazy kind 0:15:26.800 --> 0:15:30.720 of immunity. So what are we talking here? Diplomatic tribal? 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:34.480 What do they got? So what I was talking about 0:15:34.520 --> 0:15:38.400 actually is this incredible adaptive immunity that makes the possums 0:15:38.480 --> 0:15:42.320 kind of unaffected by animal venom. There is a special 0:15:42.360 --> 0:15:46.720 protein in their blood that completely neutralizes toxic components, and 0:15:47.000 --> 0:15:50.000 it allows an a possum to survive a bite or 0:15:50.040 --> 0:15:53.440 a sting that might otherwise kill an animal its size. 0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:57.200 The trait is especially useful when squaring off against dangerous 0:15:57.200 --> 0:16:00.360 snakes like copper heads and water moccasins, but it is 0:16:00.520 --> 0:16:03.960 also handy for warding off the venomous stings of things 0:16:04.040 --> 0:16:06.240 like honeybees or scorpions. 0:16:06.480 --> 0:16:09.720 That is a much cooler trick than like pretending to 0:16:09.720 --> 0:16:10.479 be dead. 0:16:10.280 --> 0:16:11.600 And oozing goo. 0:16:12.440 --> 0:16:15.720 Yeah, completely, But how did they become immune to venom 0:16:15.840 --> 0:16:17.720 What was it? Because they were, you know, attacked all 0:16:17.760 --> 0:16:19.680 the time by venomous snakes or something. 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:23.360 I mean, that definitely is one theory, but researchers aren't 0:16:23.400 --> 0:16:26.760 completely sure. Somethink that possums immunity is actually more about 0:16:26.840 --> 0:16:30.600 offense than defense, and in that scenario, they would have 0:16:30.600 --> 0:16:33.600 evolved immunity for the sake of expanding their diet. Right, So, 0:16:33.800 --> 0:16:37.400 despite what you might think of possums, you know, they're scavengers, 0:16:37.400 --> 0:16:40.640 but they also eat a lot of rattle snakes, honey bees, scorpions, 0:16:40.680 --> 0:16:41.680 so it kind of makes sense. 0:16:42.000 --> 0:16:44.600 Yeah, And I mean that definitely works in our favor too, right, 0:16:44.720 --> 0:16:47.880 Like always nice to have fewer rattle snakes and scorpions 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:49.160 prowling around the neighborhood. 0:16:49.440 --> 0:16:52.480 Yeah, And possums are a big help with things like 0:16:52.520 --> 0:16:55.680 population control, not just with venomous species. They're also great 0:16:55.760 --> 0:16:59.680 for like clearing out past like garden slugs or cockroaches ticks. 0:16:59.720 --> 0:17:02.800 They help beautified landscape by eating things like rotten fruit. 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:07.200 They're essentially living vacuum cleaners for cities and suburbs and 0:17:07.280 --> 0:17:09.320 they really will just hoover up just about anything. 0:17:10.520 --> 0:17:14.280 Didn't you write a poem about or two in apossum 0:17:14.320 --> 0:17:16.439 a few years back, like some kind of owed to 0:17:16.480 --> 0:17:20.800 the apostlem, you remember, Yeah, it was for a show 0:17:20.800 --> 0:17:22.359 I did called Humans Growing Stuff. 0:17:22.680 --> 0:17:26.320 And this was way back in COVID lockdown. It was 0:17:26.359 --> 0:17:29.200 like three am in Brooklyn, and Lizzie and I heard 0:17:29.240 --> 0:17:32.320 this weird shuffling outside and we were like, is that 0:17:32.359 --> 0:17:35.199 a big cat or a person? There's a sound on 0:17:35.359 --> 0:17:38.000 this little balcony that's above our bedroom, right, so so 0:17:38.040 --> 0:17:40.480 like you could hear this like clomping around, and then 0:17:41.040 --> 0:17:44.200 it sort of quietly, not so quietly, came down these 0:17:44.240 --> 0:17:46.760 metal outdoor stairs, and so it kind of felt like 0:17:46.760 --> 0:17:49.199 we were in this bad horror movie. And you know, 0:17:49.240 --> 0:17:51.080 we'd both been startled and we didn't know what it was. 0:17:51.119 --> 0:17:54.000 And it's three am, so I'm just kind of tracking 0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:56.040 the sounds, and then I peeked out the window with 0:17:56.080 --> 0:17:58.919 my light and I just saw this goofy looking like 0:17:59.240 --> 0:18:03.600 pretty big possum with all these pointy chompers, and I 0:18:03.680 --> 0:18:04.520 was definitely taken. 0:18:04.560 --> 0:18:08.800 Aback, I bet, but Mango, there's no getting away from it. 0:18:08.880 --> 0:18:14.520 The poem please, Yeah, so on the show, I presented 0:18:14.520 --> 0:18:18.240 this with hand drums, sort of beat poetry style. I 0:18:18.280 --> 0:18:20.919 think I called it poetry corner, but I just pulled 0:18:21.000 --> 0:18:23.560 up the text of this. So this poem is called 0:18:23.680 --> 0:18:27.160 quote an apology to the apossum in my garden who 0:18:27.160 --> 0:18:29.960 made me shriek today loudly at three am in the morning, 0:18:30.520 --> 0:18:35.280 And I'm gonna read it for you now. I'm sorry 0:18:35.320 --> 0:18:38.560 that when I saw you, I screamed and showed you away. 0:18:39.280 --> 0:18:42.439 But now that I know you feast on slugs, please 0:18:42.480 --> 0:18:43.880 help yourself to the buffet. 0:18:44.600 --> 0:18:51.160 Thank you, beautiful, beautiful, I'm gonna snap so dumb, does 0:18:51.200 --> 0:18:52.640 your garden have a lot of slugs? 0:18:52.800 --> 0:18:55.720 I mean when it rains like it actually has so 0:18:55.920 --> 0:18:58.640 many of them. I've never experienced anything like it. And 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:01.520 I also never assumed, like of all places will be 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:04.560 slug filled, but you end up with like beautiful birds 0:19:04.600 --> 0:19:07.920 coming through as a result, and I guess also possums. 0:19:08.000 --> 0:19:10.320 But before we move on, I want to mention one 0:19:10.320 --> 0:19:13.200 other possum trait that we should all be grateful for, 0:19:13.600 --> 0:19:17.640 and that is its low body temperature. So as marsupials, 0:19:17.640 --> 0:19:20.040 the possums run a little bit cooler than other mammals. 0:19:20.200 --> 0:19:22.919 So while the normal body temperature for a human ranges 0:19:22.960 --> 0:19:26.119 between ninety seven and ninety nine degrees fahrenheit, and the 0:19:26.200 --> 0:19:30.240 possums can be as low as ninety four degrees fahrenheit. 0:19:30.480 --> 0:19:32.320 And why is that something to be thankful for? 0:19:32.920 --> 0:19:36.359 Apparently, the difference of a few degrees makes it much 0:19:36.440 --> 0:19:39.879 harder for an apossum to contract rabies, which you know, 0:19:39.920 --> 0:19:42.800 it's kind of remarkable. The virus just can't survive for 0:19:42.840 --> 0:19:45.399 that long and a body that cold, and that means 0:19:45.440 --> 0:19:48.600 it's extremely unlikely that you'll ever cross paths with an 0:19:48.640 --> 0:19:52.480 infected apossum. That said, if you do encounter a wild apossum, 0:19:52.520 --> 0:19:54.920 you should still keep your distance. You know, they aren't 0:19:54.920 --> 0:19:57.399 aggressive by nature, but they're safe than than sorry. 0:19:57.920 --> 0:20:00.560 Yeah, yeah, a good reminder not to go out and 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:04.600 hug an apossum, no matter how cuddly they look, even 0:20:04.640 --> 0:20:06.719 though you know you might want to. After I tell 0:20:06.760 --> 0:20:10.439 you about the apossum's trademark display of affection, which is 0:20:10.440 --> 0:20:12.960 something called slubbing. Have you heard of it? 0:20:13.480 --> 0:20:15.280 I mean, I try to keep up on all the 0:20:15.320 --> 0:20:18.439 new apossum lego, but I've never heard of slubbing, So 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:19.160 tell me about it. 0:20:19.280 --> 0:20:22.600 Well, The word itself is short for slobber rubbing, and 0:20:22.800 --> 0:20:25.399 that pretty much tells you all you need to know. 0:20:27.000 --> 0:20:30.639 Opossums will lick an object or sometimes a person that 0:20:30.680 --> 0:20:34.240 they like, and then forcefully rub against it with their chin. 0:20:34.720 --> 0:20:37.760 If you ever see this in action, it is gross 0:20:37.880 --> 0:20:41.720 and funny and oddly charming. There are plenty of videos 0:20:41.720 --> 0:20:44.479 out there, but keep in mind you will come across 0:20:44.520 --> 0:20:49.160 titles like quote apossum can't stop slubbing his mom and 0:20:49.359 --> 0:20:51.520 just you know, go ahead and click through. It's not 0:20:51.560 --> 0:20:52.080 what you think. 0:20:52.400 --> 0:20:55.440 So I'm both grateful for the link and for the warning, 0:20:55.720 --> 0:20:58.600 but I'm curious you said this was a show of affection. 0:21:00.119 --> 0:21:02.000 Sounds more like it's marking territory. 0:21:02.359 --> 0:21:05.200 It's a bit of both, really wild. The possums might 0:21:05.320 --> 0:21:08.600 slub to mark their territory and leave behind their scent 0:21:08.680 --> 0:21:12.639 for potential mates, while the possums in captivity generally slub 0:21:12.720 --> 0:21:16.520 their favorite toys or caregivers. In either case, slobber rubbing 0:21:16.640 --> 0:21:18.880 is a way for a possums to claim something they 0:21:19.040 --> 0:21:21.760 like as theirs, and when you think about it, the 0:21:21.800 --> 0:21:26.520 behavior isn't that unusual. Cats do something very similar called bunting, 0:21:26.720 --> 0:21:28.760 which is when they rub their faces on things to 0:21:28.760 --> 0:21:33.040 claim ownership and express affection. The apossum version just involves 0:21:33.119 --> 0:21:34.800 you know, way more saliva. 0:21:34.840 --> 0:21:37.440 Well, speaking of ways to show affection, I want to 0:21:37.440 --> 0:21:40.800 circle back to this other story. It teast earlier and 0:21:40.840 --> 0:21:43.800 it's the one about the apossum who was pardoned by 0:21:43.840 --> 0:21:47.399 a governor. So this story starts back in nineteen seventy 0:21:47.560 --> 0:21:51.240