Central American Wooly Opossum with lots of babies close up
Great little animals to have around. Did you know that they eat ticks?
Opossum-Ooch
Opossum is a marsupial found in Belize known in Yucatec Maya as Ooch.
This opossum is about the size of a house cat, with short legs, an opposable, clawless big toe, and a long flattened, pointed nose. It has small, thin, hairless ears and a long, nearly naked, scaly prehensile tail. Its fur is long and gray or brown, with numerous white guard hairs throughout.
This animal can be a very fierce fighter, for its size. This can startle many carnivores into looking for a meal elsewhere. But in the event that the possum runs into a carnivore much larger, then it has the ability to play "dead." No matter what the attacker does, the possum just lies motionless. Playing "possum" like this does not always succeed, because a few carnivores enjoy carrion (food that is already dead).
Opossum immune to a lot of stuff. These critters have such a good immune system, they are hardly ever found with the rabies virus, and they are not considered reservoirs for Lyme diseas
Photograph by Hylito Tzīb
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