Katy was working in the vet room with both opossums and left to return a package to the gift shop. Cher was on the floor when Katy left, and on the counter when Katy returned. She got some photos of Cher opossum wandering around the vet room.Read more
Posts tagged: #opossums
A breath of fresh air
If you have been reading the blog for a while, you may remember back in March of last year when we constructed an outdoor playpen for our indoor animals to exercise in. More recently, you may remember a post about us receiving two new baby opossums. Well, the opossums (named Sonny and Cher) have grown fast and today was their first time getting to use the outdoor playpen! Now that the weather is nice, we like to give our indoorRead more
Big word of the month: Neoteny
The big word of the month is neoteny. Neoteny is a term from developmental biology that refers to the retention of juvenile traits into adulthood. Humans display neoteny compared to our living primate relatives like chimpanzees. Our heads remain relatively large throughout our lives, for instance. I was inspired to write about this issue by the response to our new baby opossums living in Carolina Wildlife. I think everyone that sees them usually utters the word “cute” within 30 seconds.Read more
Baby Opossums Here
Two baby opossums arrived today at the Museum. Each is about 8 inches long. The male weighs 70 grams and the female 62 grams. We normally quarantine new animals behind the scenes but this time we decided to let these two start on exhibit so that you can see them while they are still young. They’ll grow quickly, and soon they will have to be separated. One will eventually be used for our education programs while the other remains onRead more
Aaah, what a perfect spot for an opossum
I was in the office this morning when Gomez, our exhibit opossum, strolled in while getting his daily exercise on the hall. He proceeded to crawl into the most comfortable place in the whole office: a bag of Kent’s dirty shirts. At first I was concerned about the plastic bag, but then realized the dirty shirts were probably more dangerous, hahaha! I got a couple of pictures before taking him out…(Kent later told me the clothes were clean, but it’sRead more
Creature Feature: Beaker the Opossum
Opossums are some of the most popular animals we have available for use in programs or at birthday parties. As with other animals you have read about such as Silkie Chicken and Ball Python #1, we also have opossums that live in our Education Holding Room (EHR) behind the scenes. We usually have 2 or 3 at one time, but right now we only have 1 living off-exhibit, whose name is Beaker (we also have an opossum living on exhibitRead more