OPOSSUMS are survivors. It may play dead as a technique to
minimize its vulnerability to predators. Once the predator
looses interest, the critter will 'wake up' and continue its
hunt for food. Solitary and mostly nocturnal, the opossum will
stay in a hollow log, ground burrow made by other animals, or
under human storage buildings. It must get out of its bed every
few days to hunt for carrion or just about any animal or
vegetable remnants it can find. If you should ever encounter an
opossum during an outdoor hike, it may try to evade you at
first, but if it considers itself cornered, it will hiss,
screech, and salivate profusely while opening its mouth to
expose all 50 teeth. It may also excrete a greenish substance.
If all these repulsive behaviors do not work, it will feign
death and allow its tongue to stick out of the mouth. The little
opossum may appear dull-witted, but one cannot escape the fact
that this marsupial is a relic survivor from ages past. It plays
a role that Mother Nature has carved out fo