This morning at 9 a. m. I saw a creature about 18" long, the shape of a 
football, pointy at both ends, light grey, very short legs, waddle across the
street on the old west side.  Is this an opossum?  I thought they were
nocturnal and smaller.  It went too fast to notice if there was much of a
tail.  It was definitely not raccoon, skunk, or woodchuck or cat.

12 responses total.

Sounds like an opossum. They have a moderately long naked tail, not
too noticeable. They are nocturnal, but could have been rousted out of
its lair by a cat or dog. 

Thanks Rane, was that also in the Merck Manual?  (Private joke).  Do you
happen to know anything else of their habits?  I would have expected them to
hibernate, but maybe this one got too warm or hungry.  What do they eat?  Is
the population in AA increasing?  I have only seen one other in 20 years.

If the possum were rabid or otherwise diseased, it might alter its
nocturnal habits, also, at least in my experience living on an acreage
for several year and having seen one during the day that was very sick.

Good point on possible rabies, though the primary hazard of rabies is
from raccoons and skunks and dogs. The opposum is an interesting animal.
It is the only marsupial in North America. It has a prehensile tail
and can be found hanging by it in a tree during the day. It is omnivorous,
and also eats carrion - and garbage. Its meat is said to by very fatty
but edible, though jokes are made about that since the flavor may be
influences by what garbage it has eaten lately. I once found one hanging
in a tree during the day in my back yard, but generally I just catch
glimpses of them foraging at night - and, of course, the many killed by
cars. The range of opposums has been extending further north over the
past hundred years, perhaps a subtle effect of global warming, or perhaps
the effect of spreading garbage.

My partner says they eat grapes from his vines, and refuse to stop eating even
when poked with a stick.  They will finally go away, slowly, if you keep
poking.  Raccoons also like to despoil grape vines, what they don't eat, they
maul and drop on the ground.  If you corner them they fight back.
I had also wondered about rabies, but this one seemed very alert and knew just
where it was heading, into a large evergreen bush.  What symptoms of rabies
can you spot from a distance?  I had heard bats get rabies, what about
squirrels?

The animal can be infectious before it shows symptoms. Don't handle wild
animals without adequate protection (and, if you do, and get bitten,
capture the animal for analysis for rabies, or you are in for a not too
pleasant series of injections). Of course, this all goes even more for any
animal that acts ill. Bats carry a different type of rabies than do
terrestrial mammals, and transmission to humans is difficult, but
possible.  The last rabies death in Michigan occurred due to (it is
believed) a bat bite. However the victim, a girl, had had the bat pushed
in her face by her brother. No one told their parents until symptoms
appeared. Sampling of live bat collonies has found about 0.5% of bats have
bat rabies, but they are not permanent carries - they die too (after
transmitting it to other bats).

I will reassure a friend who got hysterical about a bat in the attic.  It does
not sound like bats go after large victims.  Do porcupines get rabies and are
there any around Ann Arbor?  I have seen many more skunks recently, is the
population increasing?  Are there any natural predators of any of these
animals other than people and cats, now that dogs are confined?  THere is
supposedly a surge in the deer population around here, and I had never seen
any skunks and only one possum until the last year or two.

Bats in the attic are harmless, although they can sometimes get into the
house itself through the attic, or their droppings may become noticeable.
The best way to eliminate bats in the attic is to close the crevices by
which they get in *in the evening after they have left to feed*. No sense
killing beneficial bats by sealing them in. 

I have not seen porcupines in Ann Arbor. One summer I live trapped to
reduced the woodchuck population, and my total 'take' was 7 woodchucks, 3
raccoons (2 at the same time), 2 opossum, and 1 skunk. Very recently a
neighbor paid to have the skunk population reduced but quit because of the
cost after 8 or so skunks had been removed. Skunks cause no harm, so I
would leave them (they only spray when harrassed by loose dogs or cats,
which people should control anyway). Raccoons get into garbage pails,
which is a nuisance.  The other animals are harmless.

None of these animals have natural predators either in the city or the
wild. 

A neighbor paid a professional to trap 'the skunk' living under his back porch
and was surprised to get the same sort of yield as you cite.  I presume you
mean no natural predators in the wild around Ann Arbor, since they have mostly
been killed off by people.  Do large birds ever attack the young?

I should have said that the adults of all those species have no serious
predators. The young of any of them would be prey for foxes, felines,
bears, some hawks., and larger owls (great horned, e.g.) Adults may get
into fights with larger carnivores, be injured, and die as a result. Life
in the woods is tough.... 

How long does a possum live, maximum, and how big is a litter?

I just happen to have Allen Kurta's _Mammals of the Great Lakes Region_ (UM
Press, 1995), by my computer..ln this region life expectancy is less than
two years. A litter is typically 7-9, and some females have 2 litters in
a year. Kurta does not give a maximum life expectancy, though he does
for many other mammals (for animals kept in captivity, usually). 

Response not possible - You must register and login before posting.

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss