Monday, January 26, 2009

Opossums cute??

The same day my cousin/friend and another friend searched for turkeys, we came upon the only marsupial in North America, the opossum. By the way, Hunter and Dancer, a marsupial is an animal that raises it's young in a pouch...like a Kangaroo or Koala Bear. A Koala will raise it's young in the pouch for 6 months, drinking its mother's milk, then on its back for another 6 months, eating eucalyptus leaves and drinking its mom's milk.

Koala Bear


The opossum by most people's recollection is a very ugly animal...long snout, usually dirty, white and gray. They have more teeth than any other land mammal. Before born, they only stay inside their mommies belly, a shocking ONLY 12 to 14 days...unlike a baby boy or girl that remains in his or her mom's belly around 9 months. The original opossum called the Virginia opossum was mainly in the Eastern United States, but moved west during the GREAT DEPRESSION (harsh money times in the 1920-30's)mainly as another source of food. Yeah that's right opossum for dinner. Can you imagine going out to a restaurant, and asking what's good here? The waitress replies, "The Opossum is delicious!" You're probably chuckling, but I bet it tastes something like chicken.





Tell me when you're coming over for dinner readers, and I'll go shoot me an opossum and cook one up for ya'll. Want yours medium-rare??

To get back to the day in the woods, after seeing the rafter of turkeys, we came upon this:


Isn't that opossum cute...I would have never guessed a dirty disgusting animal be named that, but look, he's actually cute. Double click on the image of the opossum to get a better look. Both friends said I should enter the picture in the county fair. What do you think?

5 comments:

  1. To Hunter and Dancer,

    It was a beautiful day in the woods, but then again everyday in the woods is beautiful.

    Slough Lover

    ReplyDelete
  2. I enjoy his pink nose!

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's a neat picture. I don't think I've ever seen an opossum in the wild.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I've always thought opossums are cute! My husband, on the other hand, calls them large rats!

    ReplyDelete