A Possum, Playing Possum.
Earlier, I let my dog Polly out for an evening bathroom visit, and when I went to call her back in she wouldn't come.
I slipped on some shoes, went out after her, and discovered what was keeping her. She had apparently surprised a possum out by the bird feeders, so much so that it went into "apparent death" as a defense mechanism instead of trying to run off — otherwise known as playing possum.
From Wikipedia:
Apparent death , colloquially known as playing dead , feigning death , or playing possum , is a behavior in which animals take on the appearance of being dead . This form of animal deception is an adaptive behavior also known as tonic immobility or thanatosis . Apparent death can be used as a defense mechanism or as a form of aggressive mimicry , and occurs in a wide range of animals.
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Playing possum - If threatened, an opossum will either flee or take a stand. To appear threatening, an opossum will first bare its fifty teeth, snap its jaw, hiss, drool, and stand its fur on end to look bigger. [18] If this does not work, the Virginia opossum is noted for feigning death in response to extreme fear. [19] This is the genesis of the term " playing possum ", which means pretending to be dead or injured with intent to deceive. [20] The reaction is involuntary and triggered by extreme fear. [19] In this inactive state it lies limp and motionless on its side, mouth and eyes open, tongue hanging out, and feet clenched. [18] Fear can also cause the opossum to release a green fluid from its anus whose putrid odor repels predators. [19] [21] Heart rate drops by half, and breathing rate is so slow and shallow it is hardly detectable. [18] Death feigning normally stops when the threat withdraws, and it can last for several hours. [18] [21] Besides discouraging animals that eat live prey, playing possum also convinces some large animals that the opossum is no threat to their young. [19] "Playing possum" in response to threats from oncoming traffic often results in death. [22]
It's such a rare thing to see (at least in my experience), that I coaxed Polly back inside, grabbed the camera, took a few shots, and then started taking video to see if I could catch the process of him "coming back from the dead."
Well, I succeeded! I only had to wait about 10 minutes, too.
The images were taken with the camera flash on, but I had to use a flashlight for the video.
I played around with some editing software and made a little movie out of the video. Hope you guys like it, especially if you've never seen a possum playing possum before.
I know he looks kind of nasty, but possums around here always look kind of nasty, and they look even nastier than usual when they're wet from rain and playing dead, apparently.
The video is just under 2 minutes long...
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Something different, rare, and interesting on a Monday night...
Indeed it is all those Dig. That opossum can really play opossum.
Ha ha, that was kinda creepy. Glad Polly didn't get too involved.
LOL. Making movies is fun.
You did a fantastic job with that - and it is the first time that a member-created video has played through for me without a hitch - perfect.
Glad to hear. I was hoping it would stream well. I rendered it in a few different resolutions, and the lowest one still looked decent so that's the one I posted.
I think this is so cool. I have never seen a possum actually playing dead. What a great find for you.
Btw... some cool facts about possums:
Btw... here is a pic of a clean possum. They are kind of cute.
Hey, cool info, Perrie. I didn't know most of that.
Gotta say, I've seen quite a few possums in my time and I don't think I've ever seen a clean one. They always look grubby when I see them.
Are you sure that's a North American possum? It doesn't look quite right to me. The eyes and fur seem wrong somehow. Then again, maybe that's just because it's clean.
I am sure. Here, check out all the pics of them:
If they're eating trash then they get nasty from the trash cans.
I've only ever seen them in the country. Maybe it's just the wild population around here that always looks grubby. Local genetics or something.
They look pretty grubby here, too. Not nearly as cute as the one in the pic Perrie posted.
Well when I see an opossum here, I find them to be very cute because they eat ticks and moles.
I appreciate them for that, but still can't find them cute.
They're very un-cute when I have to go out at 4:30 in the damn morning because a potty trip for my dog ends up with me trying to catch him and drag him out of the shrubs without either him or me getting torn up by a possum. You'd think the possums would learn to stay away, but they keep coming back.
really teacher? you couldn't have just left it at ...
Also when their babies are born they're tiny like newborn baby mice and their rear legs are undeveloped and have to climb into the mothers pouch to survive, at this point they're almost embryonic. There's a particular video on YouTube titled "possum babies" 2:42m that shows a dead mother with very young babies in her pouch, most of the vids I found showed older babies and this was the only one that showed babies under a week old.
I knew most of that... the only one I did NOT know was about the snake venom.
They are truly amazing creatures. I think they're kinda cute most of the time.
Vultures are similar in the cleanliness factor and most don't know that either... some groom each other following their feasting on a dead animal. I watched something on Animal Planet where they featured vultures and the guy doing the interview was amazed that these Vultures smelled like clean laundry. Granted, not all of them smell quite like that... I wish I could find the video.
It is a horrible looking creature. They (and raccoons) 'trouble' the suburbs (we have wild areas nearby). I had one walk out of a tree I was absent-mindedly spraying one time. On another occasion I could see one nesting (and later waking for the night) in the same set of trees from our sun-room. It yawned uninhibitedly. (Ugh!)
Then there was the time the raccoons 'shat' on the roof. And, we captured one. We let it go. It was a real trip. Make a god-awful 'bark' after it heaped itself over the fence. (Ugh!) Horrible beast!
When I was a kid everyone used 55 gallon steel drums for trash and we had lots of Possums, Raccoons, and Skunks eating garbage. Now we all use big plastic containers with flip-top lids that get picked up by the robotic arm on the garbage truck. The animals can't get in these unless they can knock it over and if it's full they can't do that so they've basically given up on trash and stay in the woods. We rarely see them now or smell the skunks which back in the day you could smell as they walked through your yard at night if your window was open.
My goodness, the skunks (and the snakes) don't haunt my area! We have these "amazing" unscalable garbage cans and safety robotic lifts you mention. It takes a really strong wind to even lid the top open inhumanly. Though the top itself is lightweight! I love these containers which are safe for the workers too!
But the possums, and especially the raccoons, are well-known to us (as their is a creek from the countryside to the 'burbs'), as they walk over looking for the fruit trees and home gardens. My best friend has an excellent backyard garden and fruits and nut trees and he is 'plagued' by squirrels and raccoons!
It's always something, isn't it?
It's the Creek, Possums and Raccoons love Crayfish. They like fish and frogs too but they absolutely love the crayfish.
Then, we're probably stuck with them!
Wonderful video! Thanks very much.
YW. Glad you liked it.
Huh. My dog corners and trees possums all the time, but I've never seen one actually play possum. Glad you caught this on video.
my little sister, the feral, stray, and pregnant cat magnet of south texas, had one as a quasi pet years ago. it showed up mixed in with a batch of kittens when mommie cat decided to move her brood from under the house closer to the food dish. it hung around for a few years and she said she would have kept it if it had learned to use the cat box.
My brother's dog corners them as well, but unfortunately for the possums, the way he determines when their dead is when bones are being crunched.
It doesn't seem like much of a defense mechanism, does it?
No, it doesn't. My father (RIP) used to squash their heads when he found them playing "dead". His only excuse was they were ugly. Good thing I was kinda cute when I was born.
If dad were here today I would tell him just how wrong that was
I think I've only seen a possum playing dead once before, and I'd never witnessed one waking up from it until last night. Glad I didn't have to wait long. I was getting cold and about to give up when he started moving.
I wonder how going into a catatonic state like that affects them, whether their bodies hurt when waking up from it or not. It took him a little while to collect himself and get the juices flowing again before he walked off.
Cool to see, though. A first for me.
Great video, Dig.
We have our local opossum around here as well, I'll see one every one and a while.
They are a very cool critter.
Thanks, Kav.
I have never before actually seen one playing possum. I have seen them occasionally in the dog food bag, but that ball of teeth and fur was NOT playing possum by any stretch of the imagination.
They can look dangerous when they're baring all those teeth at you, can't they? I've seen them do that a few times.
They have a growl that would scare away coyotes
I tell you that I was not about to stick my bare hand in the bag to remove it!
They sure do. I understand they're actually pretty timid, but they sure don't look timid.
Nice! I haven't actually ever seen a possum in person. Now if we're talking porcupines...
Pretty sure I've never seen a porcupine in person. We're even, lol.
My husband told me a funny story about a porcupine that destroyed their homemade outhouse (a bucket with a toilet seat attached surrounded by wooden walls and a wooden door on a hinge) on the state land he and his buddies used to hunt on. From what I understand, the year they built it and the next were fine, but the year after that, they heard some rustling from said outhouse while they were setting up camp. His buddy opened up the door, made eye contact with the porcupine, and slammed the door as quickly as possible. One of the other guys grabbed his hunting rifle and the guy that originally opened the outhouse door, opened the door and BOOM... porcupine was dead. The entire interior of the outhouse had needles in it, there were holes in the sides from it making a home, and of course the rifle put a decent hole into it... plus the mess of the dead porcupine too. They ended up just burning the whole thing. In the city... not too many porcupines.
That was a bit harsh, wasn't it? Not exactly a mortal threat. Why didn't they just leave the door open for it and let the poor thing go?
I agree that it was harsh... I wasn't there. Hell, my husband wasn't even a part of it... he just happened to be there. I think that my husband's buddies got scared and didn't know what to do. I think that maybe they worried about it getting into one of the pop-ups they were staying in and the fact that they were about 50 miles from a hospital.
My dad had a dog that got a quill in his nose. Poor dog suffered but Dad got it out with a pair of needle nosed pliers
Ouch!
I had a tiny possum this spring that I kept fed with cat food. He (or she) got bigger and started getting meaner with the cats. I like having around because they are good for the environment
Is it still hanging around?
I see it every now and then. When it was little it used to scare off the raccoons who tried to eat its breakfast. He was a brave little fella
They also keep away tree rats and mice, which they will eat if they catch them.
I love possums.
When we lived in Missouri our neighbor's cat went after an opossum. Possum has some wicked teeth witch the cat learned the hard way. A trip to the vet ensued and the cat had to be stitched up.
Yikes!
Poor kitty!
I like them but they are kinda mean. In my old house, one evening I found two baby possums on the front porch. They were on the railing with their tails wrapped around it.
If I tried to get close they would hiss at me. They were cute, just probably scared to death.
The next morning I couldn't find them.
About a week later I was working in the backyard and came across a skeleton of what I believe was the mother.
They have some wicked teeth.
Nicely done!
We have opossums on our property but I have never tried to capture them on video (rare to spot too). I would like to encourage more because they help eliminate ticks and moles.
If you want to encourage them, start leaving some cheap pet food out for them at night. You'll either get possums or raccoons. Then again, you might get more mice around, too, so maybe that's not such a great idea.
Good thought. We get raccoons here already. But I can always try on the site where I tend to see opossums emerge.
The dogs caught a possum and paraded around with it, left it lay on the deck when they came back inside It came back to life and walked away
Lucky possum. I guess playing dead can work from time to time.
There is a possum playing dead in my shrubs, but my front steps are covered in ice, so I'm afraid to walk down them and get close enough for a pic. The dog sure is having fun playing guard dog, though.
I can see it now, fall down the stairs, shovel or whatever weapon goes flying and hits ya in the head, the the possum jumps up and bites ya on the leg.
Good times, good times...
Then again, maybe it is frozen.
I was wondering about that. Their heart rate is supposed to slow way down, which can't be good when it's below freezing.
I didn't take a weapon with me. I'm not afraid of them, so long as they're a few feet away, and I didn't plan to get any closer. But I did have visions of falling down the concrete steps and cracking my skull while my son was in his bedroom, oblivious to my plight.
The possum is gone, so it must not have been frozen.
Hehe. Zombie critters.
I haven't seen one since posting this. They've vanished.