• LordGimp@lemm.ee
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    15 hours ago

    They do eat to ticks, but they’re resistant to Lyme disease, not rabies. It’s not that opossum hunt ticks or anything, they’re just real good at grooming, and as ticks are real good at sticking to furry critters, opossum naturally end up fighting both ticks numbers and Lyme disease incidents.

    So, yeah, same same but different.

  • Scary le Poo@beehaw.org
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    17 hours ago

    They get rabies just like anything else. However, their body temp is so low that rabies cannot survive.

  • RejZoR@lemmy.ml
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    18 hours ago

    I don’t care if they eat ticks or have 3 vaginas, I just think possums are cool because they are just so goofy animals. Especially tiny possums clinging to mama possum as she carries them around. Or how they feign death when under attack. Or how they’ll drop the sickest hiss at you whenever you see them.

    • Test_Tickles@lemmy.world
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      10 hours ago

      Some people think they are so ugly they are cute. However, when you suddenly surprise one on a dark path in the middle of the night, they are less cute and more nightmare fuel. The “recently revived road kill” look they usually sport, along with the teeth and the hissing, and the raised claws (very much all a defensive posture, but try telling that to the shit in my pants) don’t do much to endear them to people that live around them.

    • Letstakealook@lemm.ee
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      19 hours ago

      I just saw one two nights ago. They’re just what many people would call “ugly,” look dirty, and they get into trash and whatnot. I’m my experience, they’re less aggressive than racoons, so I don’t mind them. Really, people should properly secure their trash anyhow.

  • RBWells@lemmy.world
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    18 hours ago

    I love possums but they, like rats (also such amazing creatures) like to move into your walls, eaves, and attics and poop and have babies. I hate and love them. Always cool to see one in the yard. America’s only marsupial, right?

    • toynbee@lemmy.world
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      17 hours ago

      When I was a kid, I had a series of rodents, including rats. I always thought it was really cool how my rats, when walking along a tenuous surface, would wrap (or attempt to wrap) their tails around the object (usually my arm) to provide themselves security from falling.

      I don’t know if possums do the same, I’ve never encountered one, but your “amazing creatures” interjection reminded me of that.