Episode description:
Behold the humble opossum. Snout of a pig, tail of a rat, feet of a creepy baby. It’s hard to know what to make of the opossum at first blush. But on further inspection, well, it’s even harder. It’s the only marsupial representative that we have north of Mexico and I’m not sure it’s done much to endear people to these primitive mammals. On this episode we look at what makes this enigmatic beast tick and how the urbanization of America has allowed the lumbering ‘possum to expand its range, Welcome to the Single Acorn Podcast.
Produced by: Crow’s Path
Hosted by: Professor Eweagey (aka Teage O’Connor), Glenn Etter, Dr. Christine Fleener
Supported by: Our patrons @ patreon.com/CrowsPath
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Theme music by: Jake Weiss
Logo design by: Caitlin LaDulce
Ads by: Sara Siegel
WORKS CITED
- Delphi, The Oracle of Apollo (link)
- Contemporary range expansion of the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) impacted by humans and snow cover (source)
- An Etymology of Vermont Vertebrates (link)
- Seasonal source–sink dynamics at the edge of a species’ range (source)
- The Opossum: It’s Amazing Story (source)
- Oh, Just An Opossum Riding The D Train (story)
- Why Are There So Many Marsupials in Australia? (article)
- Heidi the cross-eyed opossum on a diet for health (article)
- Biology: A Search For Order In Complexity (source)
- Opossum breaks into Florida liquor store, gets drunk (article)
- Scat Removal: A Source of Bias in Feces-Related Studies (source)
- Field Data on roadkill (source)
- Dietary Patterns of the Virginia Opossum in an Urban Environment (source)
- Influences of an Urban Environment on Home Range and Body Mass of Virginia Opossums (Didelphis virginiana) (source)
- Didelphis virginiana, Virginia opossum, species profile on Animal Diversity Web (article)
- Life history consequences of mammal sibling rivalry (source)
- Of Breasts, Behavior and the Size of Litters (article)
- Sternal Odors as Cues for Social Discrimination by Female Virginia Opossums, Didelphis virginiana (source)
- Retarded senescence in an insular population of Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana) (source)
- Opossums show a memory for poisons (article)
- Behavior of the Opossum in the Fink Arrow Maze (source)
- Populations and Movements of Opossums in East-Central Illinois (source)
- Habitat Dynamics of the Virginia Opossum in a Highly Urban Landscape (source)
- Infectious Diseases in the Opossum: A Review (source)
- Physiological responses associated with feigned death in the American opossum (source)
- Video of tonic immobility in sharks (video)
- Heidi the Cross-Eyed Opossum: Germany’s latest love (video)
- The Living Dead: Animals That Pretend to Go Belly-Up (article)
