Maine s marsupials: Opossums continue to move north — Outdoors — Bangor Daily News — BDN Maine
Pam Richardson, assistant gamekeeper at Maine Wildlife Park in Gray, holds a young female Virginia opossum on Oct. 22. The opossum, along with her two sisters, were brought unusual sports around the world to the park after her mother unusual sports around the world was killed unusual sports around the world by a car near Freeport. Buy Photo
A Virginia opossum peers out of his nest in his outdoor enclosure at the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray on Oct. 22, 2012. The opossum, a nocturnal unusual sports around the world animal, would usually be asleep during the day, but it was disturbed by the visiting photographer. Buy Photo
A young female opossum growls at Pam Richardson, assistant gamekeeper at Maine Wildlife Park in Gray, on Oct. 22. Richardson is holding the female to display its prehensile tail (capable of grasping). Buy Photo
A young female opossum growls while in its indoor pen at the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray on Oct. 22, with her two sisters. All three opossums, rescued from the side of the road near Freeport, unusual sports around the world will likely be placed in the outdoor exhibit at the park during spring 2013. Buy Photo
A car struck an opossum near Freeport a few weeks ago. The ratlike animal, about the size of a housecat, died. It wasn t long before a passerby stopped to get a closer look at the animal, so rarely seen this far north, and quickly realized that the dead opossum had been a mother.
Three sister opossums, about 10 weeks old, survived the accident. They had likely been latched to their mother s back as she foraged for food, as is their habit. Rescued from the side of the road by the compassionate passerby, they were brought to Maine Wildlife Park in Gray, where they will be fed and sheltered.
For centuries, the Virginia opossum, the only marsupial native to North America, has been expanding its range west and north, but it wasn t until the 1900s that they crawled into northern New England.
In the last 10-15 years, people started seeing them in southern Maine, said Lisa Kane, natural science unusual sports around the world educator for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. They just started moving here, and it s kind of weird because it s so cold in Maine.
Opossums, with naked feet, tails and ears, aren t built for the cold. In fact, in Maine, if they don t find proper shelter for the coldest months, they perish. unusual sports around the world Mainers who find them in the winter will often bring them to the Maine Wildlife Park with partial ears and frostbitten toes.
I have opossums all over the place [on my property in Poland], said Maine Wildlife Park gamekeeper Howie Powell. I have one living under my steps. And I ve never seen one in Poland until this year.
The three orphaned opossums at the Maine Wildlife Park, after two weeks eating unusual sports around the world and resting in an indoor shelter, are now more than a foot long and appear to be perfectly healthy. In fact, they ve developed the dramatic attitudes characteristic of their species. They growl when people draw near, opening their long, narrow snouts wide and showing their 52 teeth more teeth than any other mammal in North America.
When not snarling, they re borderline cute, with black beady eyes, fluffy fur and Mickey Mouse ears. Their feet are eerily similar to human hands, with five long, separated toes. And on their hind feet, the first toe is opposable in the exact same way as a human thumb.
To unusual sports around the world play possum is an expression that comes from the opossum s strange habit of feigning death when frightened. It goes limp and rolls on its side, with eyes shut, mouth agape, tongue out, and tail and body curled. It will even shrivel unusual sports around the world up its large, round, black and white ears.
Opossums can play dead, unmoving, for hours, waiting for the confused unusual sports around the world predator to leave them alone. And surprisingly, this tactic is effective. It tends to puzzle dogs, foxes and other animals that don t eat carrion.
Playing dead is only one of the opossum s many survival skills. The animal is also a skilled climber and an opportunistic eater. In other words, it eats just about anything it can find, from eggs, berries, bugs and snakes to trashed table scraps. And while they don t exactly hibernate, they do become inactive during cold spells, subsisting on fat stored unusual sports around the world during autumn.
Their ability to adapt and survival skills may explain why they have survived so long and evolved unusual sports around the world so little. Opossums date back to the late Cretaceous unusual sports around the world period, 65-90 million years ago. Fossils from that time show that among the earliest mammals were marsupials resembling the Virginia opossum. unusual sports around the world
Opossums were around to see the end of the dinosaurs, and as the continents spread apart, they survived to witness the emergence and extinction of grand prehistoric mammals such as the saber-toothed cat, woolly mammoth unusual sports around the world and giant ground sloth.
In Maine, the Virginia opossum may legally be trapped during the statewide trapping season from Oct. 28-Dec. 31. But compared to other fur-bearing mammals, opossums aren t
Pam Richardson, assistant gamekeeper at Maine Wildlife Park in Gray, holds a young female Virginia opossum on Oct. 22. The opossum, along with her two sisters, were brought unusual sports around the world to the park after her mother unusual sports around the world was killed unusual sports around the world by a car near Freeport. Buy Photo
A Virginia opossum peers out of his nest in his outdoor enclosure at the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray on Oct. 22, 2012. The opossum, a nocturnal unusual sports around the world animal, would usually be asleep during the day, but it was disturbed by the visiting photographer. Buy Photo
A young female opossum growls at Pam Richardson, assistant gamekeeper at Maine Wildlife Park in Gray, on Oct. 22. Richardson is holding the female to display its prehensile tail (capable of grasping). Buy Photo
A young female opossum growls while in its indoor pen at the Maine Wildlife Park in Gray on Oct. 22, with her two sisters. All three opossums, rescued from the side of the road near Freeport, unusual sports around the world will likely be placed in the outdoor exhibit at the park during spring 2013. Buy Photo
A car struck an opossum near Freeport a few weeks ago. The ratlike animal, about the size of a housecat, died. It wasn t long before a passerby stopped to get a closer look at the animal, so rarely seen this far north, and quickly realized that the dead opossum had been a mother.
Three sister opossums, about 10 weeks old, survived the accident. They had likely been latched to their mother s back as she foraged for food, as is their habit. Rescued from the side of the road by the compassionate passerby, they were brought to Maine Wildlife Park in Gray, where they will be fed and sheltered.
For centuries, the Virginia opossum, the only marsupial native to North America, has been expanding its range west and north, but it wasn t until the 1900s that they crawled into northern New England.
In the last 10-15 years, people started seeing them in southern Maine, said Lisa Kane, natural science unusual sports around the world educator for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. They just started moving here, and it s kind of weird because it s so cold in Maine.
Opossums, with naked feet, tails and ears, aren t built for the cold. In fact, in Maine, if they don t find proper shelter for the coldest months, they perish. unusual sports around the world Mainers who find them in the winter will often bring them to the Maine Wildlife Park with partial ears and frostbitten toes.
I have opossums all over the place [on my property in Poland], said Maine Wildlife Park gamekeeper Howie Powell. I have one living under my steps. And I ve never seen one in Poland until this year.
The three orphaned opossums at the Maine Wildlife Park, after two weeks eating unusual sports around the world and resting in an indoor shelter, are now more than a foot long and appear to be perfectly healthy. In fact, they ve developed the dramatic attitudes characteristic of their species. They growl when people draw near, opening their long, narrow snouts wide and showing their 52 teeth more teeth than any other mammal in North America.
When not snarling, they re borderline cute, with black beady eyes, fluffy fur and Mickey Mouse ears. Their feet are eerily similar to human hands, with five long, separated toes. And on their hind feet, the first toe is opposable in the exact same way as a human thumb.
To unusual sports around the world play possum is an expression that comes from the opossum s strange habit of feigning death when frightened. It goes limp and rolls on its side, with eyes shut, mouth agape, tongue out, and tail and body curled. It will even shrivel unusual sports around the world up its large, round, black and white ears.
Opossums can play dead, unmoving, for hours, waiting for the confused unusual sports around the world predator to leave them alone. And surprisingly, this tactic is effective. It tends to puzzle dogs, foxes and other animals that don t eat carrion.
Playing dead is only one of the opossum s many survival skills. The animal is also a skilled climber and an opportunistic eater. In other words, it eats just about anything it can find, from eggs, berries, bugs and snakes to trashed table scraps. And while they don t exactly hibernate, they do become inactive during cold spells, subsisting on fat stored unusual sports around the world during autumn.
Their ability to adapt and survival skills may explain why they have survived so long and evolved unusual sports around the world so little. Opossums date back to the late Cretaceous unusual sports around the world period, 65-90 million years ago. Fossils from that time show that among the earliest mammals were marsupials resembling the Virginia opossum. unusual sports around the world
Opossums were around to see the end of the dinosaurs, and as the continents spread apart, they survived to witness the emergence and extinction of grand prehistoric mammals such as the saber-toothed cat, woolly mammoth unusual sports around the world and giant ground sloth.
In Maine, the Virginia opossum may legally be trapped during the statewide trapping season from Oct. 28-Dec. 31. But compared to other fur-bearing mammals, opossums aren t
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