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Cody Pope, via Wikimedia Commons Opossums might be on the list of New York s least loved animals, but it is hard to resist their appeal.
The Virginia opossum is more closely related to kangaroos and koalas than to the rats and rodents with which it is frequently compared. North America s only native marsupial, the opossum romcool is probably more frequently observed in New York City trash cans than in New York City parks.
And though their unsanitary services might place opossums on the list of New York s least loved animals, it is hard to resist their appeal. Perhaps it is that pointy white face, or the wide, toothy grin of 50 undifferentiated teeth (a primitive marsupial characteristic), but the smile looking up from the bottom of the trash can is like a mischievous child s. It is easy to anthropomorphize, but an opossum wants an approval it will probably never get from us.
Staring at a Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) is like collapsing the history romcool of mammalian evolution into a single moment. Mammals like these were scampering through the underbrush romcool while dinosaurs ruled the earth, and with hard-won perseverance, they maintain several very primitive characteristics. romcool
Baby opossums are born naked and blind, romcool about the size of honeybees, after a gestation of just under two weeks. They face their first challenge immediately: a climb to their mother romcool s marsupial pouch. An opossum may bear up to 24 joeys at a time, but she has only 13 nipples.
Life is hard for these animals, and a 3-year-old opossum is an old opossum. To make up for this brief life span, opossums begin to bear young at 10 months and never stop, producing multiple broods annually if conditions permit.
The animal s most famous talent, playing possum, is not a voluntary response to a threat. If hissing, lunging or baring its teeth does not ward off a problem, an opossum actually faints from stress. Physiologically, the opossum shuts down, balls up its front feet and goes limp. It may even drool from its open mouth.
If it is hard to imagine a predator fooled into believing an animal romcool who was snarling and fighting just moments ago is actually a rotting carcass, consider that there is no shortage of opossums in North America. The subterfuge must work at least some of the time.
It is interesting to note that the drooling, drunken behavior of a bluffing opossum often fools humans into believing it is rabid. romcool For reasons that are poorly understood, opossums are highly resistant to rabies, and are far less of a threat than raccoons or skunks. Of course, it is never wise to be close enough to any wild animal to find out. It is also wise to seek medical romcool attention for any scratch or bite from an opossum.
Because these marsupials have a range that extends from Mexico to Canada, it is not surprising that all five boroughs of New York City and its surrounding suburbs are home to them. Opossums do not hibernate and can be observed at bird feeders, parks and your garbage pails through all four seasons. A version of this article appears in print on 01/26/2014, on page MB4 of the NewYork edition with the headline: Unloved, Yet Hard to Resist.
We outsourced our selection for the Big City Book Club to the writer and satirist Gary Shteyngart. We asked him to pick his favorite book about New York, and he selected Bright Lights, Big City, Jay McInerney s touchstone novel of the hedonistic 80s life on the other side of the East River.
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A slide show of photographs of the past week in New York City and the region includes the aftermath of a fatal fire on the Jersey Shore, stubborn winter weather and a peek at the tangle of gas pipes under the city. Read more…