How Did North America End Up With a Marsupial?

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Both North and South America have their own species of marsupial, the opossum, but how they got so far away from their Australian relatives is a bit of a mystery.
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Sources:
www.scientificamerican.com/ar...
www.researchgate.net/publicat...
www.sciencedaily.com/releases...
www.livescience.com/64897-why...
www.zora.uzh.ch/id/eprint/714...
www.istockphoto.com/photo/bab...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Di...
www.istockphoto.com/photo/pan...
commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Fi...
journals.plos.org/plosone/art...
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www.istockphoto.com/photo/bab...
www.storyblocks.com/video/sto...

[@SciShow]

SciShow is supported by Brilliant.org. Go to Brilliant.org/SciShow to get 20% off of an annual Premium subscription.

[@minnymouse4753]

Dr Stone Noticed how much placental Uterus looks so much like the marcupile prostate

[@thesilentone4024]

Can we talk about the plastic farms make from fertilizer and pesticide bags. Mybe talk about the insane amounts of water they use and the amount of life runoff and pesticides kill so bolth bugs and animals fish to.

[@johnsmith9903]

I saw an Opossum here in Eugene that was at least 3 feet long. before the tail started. huge and not as cute looking. They also have LOADS OF TEETH. the one I saw had patchy fur on flanks but back looked mangy. huge. and still amusingly ugly cute. Small opossums are just cute

[@XBANGARANGX]

I actually have one my self if you get them young enough and don't feed it raw meat they make excellent pets even though they are extremely dependent

[@batcaaat]

how do we know the fossils are that of a marsupial?

[@ZeusTheIrritable]

My wife once had a 2 or 3 minute argument with an Opossum after she mistook it for our cat. It was delightful to watch.

[@pforgottonsoul]

thats funny.

[@lyndsaybrown8471]

"Why don't you even look like a cat!?" She yelled at the Opossum.

[@ZeusTheIrritable]

@@lyndsaybrown8471 You're pretty close!

[@ordeusx5450]

What i find crazy about this is that she was trying to argue with a cat

[@ZeusTheIrritable]

@@ordeusx5450 No, she only started to argue with it after she realized it wasn't the cat. She yelled at it that it wasn't nice to scare someone, it hissed at her, she held up a finger and said something about it being very rude to impersonate someone's pet. Hilarity ensued.

[@curtislindsey1736]

Fun fact: Opposum's have a lower body temperature which means it's almost impossible for them to get rabies. Unlike skunks, racoons, and other mammals.

[@adityamohan1773]

Isn't having a lower body temperature a downside? It makes u susceptible to many microbes

[@curtislindsey1736]

@@adityamohan1773 Honestly, I'm not sure. I do know that rabies has a 99.9% mortality rate and I've seen a raccoon that was rabid. It was sad and it had to be put down, so I'd take the lower body temp.

[@Enny_Gima]

@@curtislindsey1736 More than 99%. A rabies infection is a death sentence.

[@ZyozzJessie]

@@Enny_Gima, it’s 99% because there have been cases where people survived it. Although, you can count the amount of survivors with your fingers.

[@Lolibeth]

@@ZyozzJessie 99.99999999999999999999999999999999% is effectively 100% so saying 99% is a bit disingenuous. Symptomatic rabies survivors are flukes, the medical versions of actual miracles.

[@rhov-anion]

We had a possum who loved to come to our house since we left out food for the cats. She was such a frequenter, we named her Patsy Possum. My mom was worried since we lived on a busy street, so she got a humane cage trap, caught it, and called up animal control to take Patsy way up into the hills. We kids were sad but accepted that this was safest. A few weeks later, Patsy was back, now with babies, munching away on our cat food. Sadly, Patsy did end up getting hit by a car, so my mom took in the babies. We raised those possum babies, kept them in knitted pouches, she searched the library to figure out what to feed them (no internet back then) and gradually we let them explore the big outdoors. Although they were very habituated to humans, they did pretty well, drifted off, probably to scour new trash bins. On the plus side, they cleaned up messes so there were no rats in our neighborhood and there wasn't a tick in sight.

[@Elysia_Fields]

So wholesome!

[@anyascelticcreations]

What a sweet story! Thank you for sharing! 😊

[@Ellie49]

Oh, they DO love cat food!!

[@The_sinner_Jim_Whitney]

I’ve raised possum babies on several occasions when mama possums have gotten hit or killed by a dog or something, they’re pretty docile and not bad to have around for the reasons you described. It’s also virtually impossible for them to get rabies, and they hardly ever bite pets or anything, so as long as they aren’t tearing stuff up, they’re wholly beneficial.

[@anyascelticcreations]

@@The_sinner_Jim_Whitney They really do seem wonderful to have around. And I really do hope to adopt some someday. Once I have land and am able to provide a safe place for them to live. 💖

[@amarie1693]

Love opossoms. My dog went after one, all it did was open its mouth and start walking towards my dog while hissing. I like to think they did this to dinosaurs too.

[@Teef305]

It's so damn cute to imagine opossums hissing at dinosaurs, such a perfect comment

[@Bacopa68]

Yeah, we hear talk about "playing possum" but that's really just their last resort. The hiss and stiff limbed walk is their main defense.

[@Starfloofle]

Based on the fact that I've seen videos of actual tigers getting spooked by an angry goose, I think it's pretty easy to say that acting big and tough tends to work surprisingly well against anything that's not starving LOL

[@crinkly.love-stick]

@@Starfloofle that 900lb tiger definitely realized that crazy comes in small packages. If a bonus-sized housecat is willing to even attempt to threaten something that big, you KNOW he's ready to bite a face off

[@crinkly.love-stick]

To be fair, they'll try to intimidate a cement truck like that. Honey badger + cornered rat, with a factory installed pocket

[@just_kos99]

North American opossums also eat a LOT of ticks every night! So there's one good reason to help them along!

[@anyascelticcreations]

Can we increase the population where I live somehow? 🤣

[@1IronMutt]

@@anyascelticcreations more ticks? That just sounds awful

[@anyascelticcreations]

@@1IronMutt lol, no. More opossums to eat the ticks. I think I'd like to bribe a whole herd of opossums to hang around. 🐾

[@1IronMutt]

@@anyascelticcreations I was joking about more ticks. Depending on where you live you could contact your local wildlife management and ask/volunteer your property as a place to relocate some opossums. Just a thought.

[@28704joe]

How in the world do they find ticks?

[@CusterFlux]

Whenever I hear somebody rant in terror about a "Giant Monster Rat!" in their garden … I tell them they've probably sighted North America's only marsupial - that sounds exotic, and it tends to make them listen just long enough to learn why they should probably be nice to it. As for the other giant North American Monster - Big Foot - well, he can take care of himself 😉

[@marcusg2553]

😆😆

[@Bacopa68]

I had a co-worker from India who had never seen a possum before and had only barely heard about them. He came into work the next day screaming about the giant rats he saw in the street.

[@CusterFlux]

​@@Bacopa68 That's what happened to me too - I had a few neighbors freaking out about "Giant Rats!" … I guess it's the naked tail that makes folks think it must be a rat, and I do admit, they do look really freaky when you see one at night, like some sort of super powered Vampire Rat - but from a DNA perspective, an Opossum is probably even more distant from a rat, than we are from a Dolphin.

[@anyascelticcreations]

🤣🤣🤣👍👣

[@YvetteArby]

The first time I saw one was in my dorm living room. Some idiot had left the door open and I guess it wandered in to see if there were any snacks, or maybe it just wanted somewhere warm to hang out. Anyway, it was super early in the morning (and I’m not a morning person, but I had an 8:00 class) and I thought I must be dreaming because I saw what I thought was the biggest rat I’d ever seen!! I rubbed my eyes, but nope, it was still there. So I tried to shoo it out and it hissed at me. That’s when I figured it wasn’t a rat. LOL Having heard of opossums, I figured it must be that. This was before the www existed, so I had to actually go to the library and look it up. Yep, it was an opossum. 😹😹😹

[@Mojabi_ghost]

Where I’m from, El Salvador🇸🇻 we call them “Takwatzin” which essentially translates to as “the eater”, because of all the pests, and diseases opossums keep away. Opossums we’re also believed to have given us the gift of fire which is why the fur on their tails are “burnt off” lol:)

[@Xnaut314]

Fun fact: the scientific term for a masupial's pouch is a marsupium, which is why we call pouched mammals marsupials.

[@ZeusTheIrritable]

That sounds like a Gladiator name.

[@nedludd7622]

@@ZeusTheIrritable That would be Naughtius Maximus.

[@noahway13]

I'm going to write that down so I don't forget

[@kinglyzard]

Another fun fact is that Marsupials belong to a Subclass of Mammals called Metatherians, which includes many extinct Mammals outside the Marsupial clade.

[@andrewyerian214]

I live in Ohio, USA and just love these little guys! They're so interesting and unique. People can call them pests all they want, opossums are great to have around and have been proven to be beneficial to the ecosystem. It's a shame when I see them dead on the road.

[@kinglyzard]

The little ones are especially cute 😍

[@Victoria-lq6gw]

I don’t think they are pests at all! They eat so many ticks and are very unlikely to carry rabies. They are a friend in my book!

[@Snailman3516]

Opossums are great because they pose practically no danger to humans. They play dead when they feel threatened rather than attacking. Even still they are extremely unlikely to carry rabies. They also furiously clean themselves of ticks, helping to stop their spread. They also eat mice and rats, which do carry diseases and are an actual pest.

[@PaintedDog]

They don’t actually “play” dead. Like fainting goats, they have no choice. Their muscles just tense up causing temporary paralysis.

[@jinjitronic7457]

The aussie versions try scratch your eyes out. It's much more fun I promise.

[@TechBearSeattle]

@@jinjitronic7457 - Well, that's because pretty much every animal in Australia wants to kill us, by venom or poison if possible, otherwise by violence.

[@mimisezlol]

that explains why they hang out with cats

[@patrickmccurry1563]

"Practically". The only ones I and my GF ha've encountered have been aggressive, with one actively violent.

[@subtropical1228]

I wasn’t prepared for the “so well known… by so many trash bins” joke and the delivery just HIT me and I am laughing so hard rn

[@pumpkin6529]

I have a family of Opossums living near my house, I leave food out for them sometimes. I live close to the woods so I see them a lot on my house cameras. The babies are adorable.

[@jerroldmhancock8251]

There is a small colony on Oahu, HI, they escaped from traveling zoo. They are not bother anything so they are left alone. Jerrold

[@matthewbittenbender9191]

Get rid of them - ship them off island to California. Hawai'i has so many invasive species. Rats, pigs, mongoose, chicken all changed the ecosystem there. Hawai'i doesnt need another.

[@jaguarsky55]

Absolutely the coolest animals. Their lives are horribly short (about 2 years in the wild), and since they are so important to the ecosystem it would behoove us all to treat them kindly.

[@rdizzy1]

Can tell that much of their short lifespan in the wild is not simply due to old age, but being killed early, as I've seen indoor captive opossum pets as old as 8 years old.

[@jaguarsky55]

Many captive, well cared for opossums still succumb at around two years, those who live to 3 or 4 are certainly outliers. It is heartbreaking to those of us who care for these wonderful animals. We know we have them in our care for only a short time.

[@rdizzy1]

@@jaguarsky55 Well one of the primary causes of deaths for wild adult opossums are parasitic nematodes (or other various parasites) that they would not come into contact with if they are indoor, captive bred pets. Same with no risk of being killed by a car, or being killed by predators. However, indoor captive bred ones are at risk from MBD usually, more so than wild ones. Even opossum that survive being clipped by a car usually end up dying from some type of infection down the road.

[@jaguarsky55]

@@rdizzy1 all that is true, hence; short lives. I wish they lived longer. My boy was very well kept, wormed, correct diet, but simply laid down and died at a little over two. I still grieve for him.

[@Justmebeingme37]

All life is important to ecosystems

[@StephBer1]

I've seen both the Opossum and the Possum. They look nothing alike and I have to say our Possum is so much cuter. When people meet a possum they just melt and go "Awww! What a cutie!" They really are adorable.

[@sophierobinson2738]

That cute little pink nose!

[@Tfin]

Well yeah, just look at the side-by-side image in the video of the furry brown animal and the demon ghost creature.

[@rabbit-rabbit-boy]

Gotta disagree, I love our little beady eyed ghost rat Opossum!

[@nickolasthefrog]

At least view some juvenile virginia opossums before making that call.

[@bgriffiths1840]

Can we get Michael in every video? The face. The voice. The smile. I'ma just melt into a puddle over here.

[@anyascelticcreations]

Just an FYI, he's very happily involved with a girlfriend. Not me. But just saying. I think he's gorgeous and well spoken, too. But he's happily taken.

[@MrJ1GS4W]

In Mexico they call them “Tlacuache”. When I was a kid a family lived in my grandparents farm. Me and my sister used to leave cat food for them when we visited the farm. Good times. Lovely video, thanks!

[@anyascelticcreations]

They really are adorable, aren't they? I used to feed stray cats. One of the cats, a calico, had an opossum friend. We named them both, of course. The multicolored cat was Patches, and her little friend was Possum Buddy. 😁

[@Trund27]

How sweet!!!

[@Trund27]

@@anyascelticcreations Omg, this is darling!!

[@anyascelticcreations]

@@Trund27 😊 I have a lot of stories about the little animals who have crossed my life path. I'd like to write a children's book about them all someday.

[@seakyle8784]

Oh fo real cuh!?

[@mcwjes]

My cats have joined forces with a possum. I have to feed all of them if I want to go out after dark. Cute little friends, but also organized criminals.

[@shelbylee-reid8690]

Try giving them scrambled egg (no salt or pepper) they really like it and it is a good source of protein for them. If your cats eat it too, that’s okay, they can have egg as a treat, it’s just high in fat so they shouldn’t get it everyday

[@FosterBaba]

I live in NJ (USA) and never really thought about how odd Opossums were, until today...........they were always just New York rats with fanny packs to me 🤷🏽

[@ems7623]

Odd, i never once saw them as similar to rats. I grew up in NJ too ...

[@FosterBaba]

@@ems7623 not NJ rats. NYC rats. I lived there before coming to NJ, and the sizes of rats are about the same from what I remembered. We both know New York rats are something……….different 😅

[@scottslotterbeck3796]

I have opposums in my yard all the time. They are so cute. Especially the babies. I was just thinking about the fact they are marsupials.

[@XeonAlpha]

Also the opossum’s body temperature makes them immune to rabies and they’re great at eating pests. Those oversized rats are out good friends.

[@marcielston3019]

We have a 'Poss named Bernie who politely comes and cleans up under our bird feeders every night.

[@anyascelticcreations]

That's so sweet! 💖

[@mimemouse997]

Possums and Opossums are awesome!

[@MichaelLargent]

Opossums deserve more love.

[@crinkly.love-stick]

The red green show had multiple vans painted to look like possums, so they've got that going for them

[@ozymandias9797]

Thank you for posting this. Recently, after seeing an opossum in a trash bin at work, I wondered why it was the only marsupial in North America.

[@monkemind420]

We found an opossum in our bathroom and my family wanted to kill it but I talked them into releasing it somewhere safe. It was too cute. all life is precious

[@anyascelticcreations]

Thank you for saving yours! 💖 Now he's off ridding the world of ticks someplace safe. 🐾

[@WildKat25]

I have a funny Schrödinger's Opossum story to share. So my Husband and I were engaged when he purchased his first home that he fixed up (it was a foreclosure) and it was a pretty rural area. His backyard neighbors stopped by early before he went to work to let him know that they shot & killed an Opossum that was on their shared fence and it fell into his yard so he might want to get rid of it. I usually car pool with him and we decided that we would deal with it when we got back. We decided to pick up some groceries on the way home for him, so I offered to put them away so he could go find the dead body and decide what to do with it (garbage or bury). I want to note that the backyard hasn't been leveled yet, as it was used by the previous owner as a big vegetable garden/grass yard and they stored extra soil and compost at the very back that grew over with grass. So there is a large mount of grassy dirt that prevents you from seeing the bottom of the fence unless you get up close to the fence itself. So if you are standing at the bottom with where the fence is, your eyeline is even with the top of the fence. My husband was impressed with how big the Opossum was and called me over to come check it out. As I was walking out to him I see him staring/face-to-face with a opossum that is actually ON the fence and up against some bushes and is less than a foot away from his face. As I walk closer I get suspicious that the animal isn't dead at all as the eyes look alive, it's nose & feet are pink, and it looked like the ears were fluttering. The closer I get, the more sure I am that this animal is actually alive and when I get to about 5 feet from him I get into an argument with him that his neighbors were clearly wrong and that the opossum is clearly STILL ALIVE and how can he be so close to it and think it was dead? I start begging him to slowly walk backwards towards me for his own safety, as they can be vicious & bite. He argues that the animal is clearly dead and that if I come closer I would clearly see it was dead. I tell him the ears appear to be twitching & the eyes are looking at me and he scoffs that I am being ridiculous. After 5 minutes of arguing he gets frustrated and motions with his arms towards the bottom of the fence (which I can't see from where I am standing) that the damn animal is clearly dead and that he isn't in any danger. That entire argument I thought he was looking at the animal that was basically eye-level and right in front of his face so I immediately became confused and walked a bit closer to see that he was right. There was a dead opossum laying there at his feet and that he hadn't notice the ALIVE opossum that was literally in biting distance to his face because he was so focused on the dead one! My husband startles pretty easily and I immediately became worried that if he noticed the very much, alive one right in front of him, that he might scare it into attacking him (it was very still and it looked like it was trying to hide its presence). I told him that he was right, but I would feel much more comfortable if he slowly walked back towards me. He was super dismissive and questioned why I was afraid of a dead animal, to which I just begged him to come to me. He sighed and walked towards me and once he was next to me I pointed out the ALIVE opossum that I thought he was talking about and was literally face-to-face with him. Cue surprised Pikachu face, and then he started to laugh hysterically. He says between guffaws that he thought I was going mental saying that the dead animal was alive when it was clearly dead and that it all makes sense why I was acting so nervous and demanding that he look at the animal more clearly to see that it was still alive. Considering the season, we figured that the alive opossum was the mate of the dead one and came to investigate where its mate was but was startled into stillness when my Husband walked up to the dead one and didn't notice the live one on the fence itself. We decided to leave the two animals alone and would come back later when hopefully the alive one will have moved on so he could dispose of the dead one at the bottom of the fence. My Husband learned a valuable lesson to simply follow my orders if they are reasonable that he back away from something that I view as dangerous, as I literally could be saving him, and for him to not assume I am going mental with silly claims.

[@petemartin6270]

was, no joke, 30 minutes ago, talking about this with my co-worker, spitballin ideas as to how there's one marsupial here, and a bunch in Australia. is SciShow listening in my phone? probably.

[@nebulan]

Also they eat lots of ticks!

[@Shirayuuki1]

i remember growing up in NC I used to watch mama opossums carrying her babies around in our backyard. One hot year in particular i saw a mama cowering under a car in the heat and she was just looking horrible. I went inside and got her a large bowl of water and she walked over and had a big long drink before heading back into the woods. I loved those little guys.

[@makeracistsafraidagain]

I had a pet Opossum. Crusty old man. Three years. He lost his sight and we took him in. He became a valuable member of the family, sleeping in our bed with our cat and boa and us.

[@makeracistsafraidagain]

It's fun to be young.

[@Tyrannosaurus_Wrexx]

Opossums are awesome! I love those weirdly cute little guys

[@aditghifari5039]

South : i heard your marsupial went extinct. North : yes South : lets band together so i can transport some my marsupials to you

[@andrewbetances1203]

Big island: I got no animals gimme some.

[@Trund27]

Opossums are wonderful!! They eat tons of ticks! Please don’t hurt them. They need to live their fuzzy lives

[@vincentx2850]

Meanwhile in Asia, the marsupials are also making there homecoming journey. Two species of cuscus are found on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, rubbing shoulders with primates and ungulates from the north.

[@helentee9863]

That's interesting, the presenter mentioned Chinese marsupial fossils at the beginning of this video, but never went back to this anomaly. It peeved me rather, as l already knew something about marsupials on the AMERICAN continent, but had no idea they ever existed in eurasia !

[@bcb2396]

Aww. Little baby looks like a Christmas tree ornament to me. 😁 he’s so cute and little. ❤️

[@anyascelticcreations]

Awe I love opossums! They're so cute! It's nice to hear the story of how they and their ancestors got to where they are now. 👍

[@AvaleseB]

I was wondering this recently!

[@athena8794]

I still maintain we got the possum intended for Australia. Australia, the content where 90% of everything wants to kill you got the adorable, cuddly looking critter, whereas we got the hissing, freaky-looking hell beast who would fight God for half a bagel.

[@MerganNaidoo]

Stop believing Ozzie propaganda, their wildlife is mostly harmless and rather pathetic for the most part. They make big deal about their poison snakes, spiders etc because basically those are the only dangerous animals on that entire continent. Here in South Africa we have a similar amount of venomous snakes and spiders and the difference is that we have actually wildlife, so we tend not to make a big deal about the smaller critters

[@tobycatVA]

Our porch possom had it's own bowl just like the two cats, and racoon did on the deck. All four could be seen any summer night around dusk enjoying their meow mix or sitting relaxed together afterward. I would walk between them all to my car and back none of them would stir.

[@patrickdurham8393]

I think I was 12 when I found out opossums weren't born dead on the side of the road.

[@Zeroharpe]

You mean how did north america end up with the BEST marcupial?

[@TheFlyingDogFish]

I guess only the best was good enough with all those real mammals around.

[@vinnymontgomery9013]

Ehhh.....

[@BrightRedDingus]

Thems fightin' words

[@bioberserkrgaming]

I wish

[@HashiNuke]

what about kangaroos

[@BlackCat_2]

I would love to see the Southern Opossum! It is so cute! I am confident we have the Virginia ones here in Texas as I have seen them. I am close to Mexico though but can't recall ever seeing the southern kind. Supposedly we could have wild parrots from Mexico as well but have not seen one of those either. Maybe I need to move a bit closer. :) - Heidi

[@charlesknight5140]

Showing LOVE for the channel thank you for another great video once again. Have a Blessed day everyone

[@jasonwebb1882]

I was fixing to ask about the O being pronounced in the opossum. Thank you for clearing that up for me. Breaking Bad, when Jessie asked Walt when did the possum become an opossum. Lol.

[@attabooii]

Another interesting point about that, Australian possums are named after American ones! Originally, they were called Opossums as well since they reminded the colonizers there of the American Opossum. But eventually they realized that that might be too confusing so eventually they were distinguished by being called "possums", dropping the O. But eventually Americans eventually begin to colloquially drop the O in their opossum too.

[@bairdbiz]

@@attabooii Yeah, I've spent my entire life in possum country. Heck Belton, SC is called Possum Kingdom by locals, but nobody uses the "O" anymore.

[@MarkJGGs]

@@attabooii I was under the impression that while the north american opossum was spelled with an o, it was pronounced without. People familiar with the opossum and how to pronounce that word went to australia and found marsupials, thought they looked like opossums, and named them for opossums, but spelled it the way it was pronounced, possum. So its fine to call either type of marsupial 'possum'.

[@Bacopa68]

@@bairdbiz There's also a reservoir in Texas called Lake Possum Kingdom. There was even a grunge song about that place back in the nineties.

[@kj_H65f]

@@bairdbiz when did they? I'm not that old (early 40s) but I've never heard it pronounced colloquially.

[@julesmasseffectmusic]

the opossum is possibly the only Australian-eseque animal that is more dangerous outside of of OZ. Our possums are only feral cat dangerous and strange dog aggressive that makes them downright tame considering the rest of the furred clawed things. Kangaroo means furry clawed vicious, wombat means furry clawed vicious, quoll means furry clawed vicious, koala means furry clawed vicious. Tehy incorrectly say that the Innuit had 50 words for snow but Indigenous Australians had 200 words for "furry clawed vicious" BTW platypus means furry clawed vicious and venomed.

[@joanhoffman3702]

I found your post hilarious. Australia really should be called “The Land of Things Trying To Kill You”. That covers the animals AND the plants. Really, no Aussie should leave the house without wearing a hazmat suit and kick/bite proof armor. Where I live, there are scorpions, rattlesnakes, coyotes, javelinas, and mountain lions, also black widow spiders. Honestly, humans are more dangerous.

[@julesmasseffectmusic]

@@joanhoffman3702 I moved to far north NSW as a 12 year old, first day moving soil at the house killed 4 deadly snakes with a spade (short sharp edge shovel). Bees made me run, i would hit them as reflex and drive the stinger into my arm. Mate was town docs son, snakes were less of an issue then getting stung by imported bees. You expect everything trying to kill you but bees? and the two trees your thinking of are GHost GUms (they deaddrop branches thick as your leg) and the Gympie Gympie has silicon micro needles with nerotoxin imbeds in your skin for decades.

[@julesmasseffectmusic]

​@@joanhoffman3702 You know where there arent bees? the beach, no flowering trees. know what is at the beach? blue bottles, box jellyfish and Man-o-war they are invisible, roll a 20 every spot check all day every weekend for 8 years go on I DARE YOU. You cant, Ozzies cant, we ignore a certain level of dangerous animals when you go out of large towns, spiders snakes jellyfish imported bees (1 epipen is no epipen). Ozzies near bushland take a 17 not a 10 just for being awake, as a teen, we knew safety based on how long to get to the hospital, 4 hours on foot carryin someone was acceptable. Two guys in my year had to go walkabout every year for their own mental health, they would alternate between camping and hitchin across the country, no one worried if they ran into a serial killer, that was natural selection, those boys were hard.

[@bkjeong4302]

In B4 someone argues that Australia is less dangerous because it has no native large land animals, which is misleading because it DOES have around a dozen species of large/very large terrestrial predators and herbivores that humans encountered when we first colonized Australia, we just killed them off (there used to be even more, but those went extinct prior to human colonization).

[@julesmasseffectmusic]

@@bkjeong4302 Your "we" starts 50k-70k years ago. Australia: 2/3 of the snakes are venomous to humans. 5 species of spiders can penetrate the skin AND kill you, the worse jellyfish is the size of your thumbnail with tenactles 3m long and 3mm wide. Magpies can make you crash your bike and in the country where semis fly by its dangerous. Blue tounge lizard bites can kill your dog and give you an infection that if, untreated can kill you. Roos dont kill humans (car crash excluded) but they drown dogs every chance they get, (i guess dingos like joeys also). crocs are big, hidden and if you see it attack you, your last sight was at least unique and your name will be remembered in that town, you might get a creek named after you (we had a prime minister drown, we named a pool after him) THe mega fauna were on their way out (wombats the size of horses, marsupial lions had strongest bite on earth at the time) Bigger threats are *visible* big threats are great, too bad in OZ they are feral animals only (humans included)

[@SilverDemon456]

We throw food scraps outside for the opossums to eat. Sometimes I go for a walk after dinner, and when I get back an opossum will be there gobbling it up and I have to wait patiently for him to finish his meal before I can go back inside. My cat will also sit nearby to make sure they don't get up to any mischief.

[@teawrecks1243]

If raccoons are trash pandas the opossum should be called the Trash Bandicoot

[@koalteufel7947]

Not just A marsupial, the BEST marsupial.

[@alicewilloughby4318]

0:21 - That little face! ❤️ 0:25 - I never knew this! Amazing! 2:09 - I didn't know about these! I like the coloring!

[@alexanderborschel2135]

Weird that I was wondering this recently. Like yesterday. Off a reddit post showing me the virgina possum.

[@PRDreams]

*Opossum* , god damnit! Didn't Professor SciShow teach that to you just now? Were you even paying attention? No. You were as per usual on the back of the class chewing gum and making paper airplanes to toss at Groupert. It is NOT his fault his mom decided to honor the orgy of his creation by naming him Groupert. It was a group effort after all. His middle name is Joy for f sakes! Haven't we had this conversation before Alexander "My IQ is Better than Yours" Borschel? We can't all be like you... specially Groupert.

[@amylarson3958]

Wow. You need a chill pill, dude. Sorry for his diatribe, folks.

[@vincentx2850]

I think it really depends on how you define "North America". If we count central American countries from Mexico all the way down to the Panama Canal, then the roster will be quite a bit longer. We will even have water oppossum.

[@Catlily5]

North America does include Central America.

[@Gildedmuse]

Yeah, they seem to have arbitrarily cut it off "somewhere in Southern Mexico", but there are a few other marsupials living in Mexico itself, where as my understanding is more "anything north of Columbia".

[@Dragrath1]

@@Gildedmuse Perhaps it has to do with where you define the end of the North American Craton? In geological terms the Isthmus in-between is largely the result of a subduction arc getting compressed between the two continents and thus while the crust is continental it isn't very old. The Americas are kind of a result of the East Pacific Rise making it hard for North America to continue to advance towards the southwest a process which has led to chunks of North America getting sheered off and transported North. Back in the Cretaceous North America and South America were spreading apart but, suspiciously timed with a specific asteroid impact 66 Mya, the Caribbean mid ocean ridge that drove that spreading stopped erupting going extinct and allowing North and South America to approach each other again. Technically large parts of northern South America are actually formed from uplifted Seafloor with the Northern Andes still being a separate tectonic plate that hasn't yet completely fused to South America so where you draw the lines on continents is messy in general. For example North America's Basin and Range Province is a region of ongoing crustal extension centered around the Rio Grande rift valley and many secondary graben and horst as well as a substantial amount of volcanism are also associated with the basin and range rift system which includes two of the continent's 3 active "super volcanos" Long Valley Caldera and Valles Caldera. The Colorado Plateau even appears to have its own quasi independent motion from the rest of North America so arguably the East Pacific Rise can be said to be tearing the continent apart along the crustal weaknesses left behind by the Yellowstone hotspot and so where North America ends becomes somewhat murky. Arguably the Basin and Range Province hasn't yet split off the rest of California as they are still connected to the North but at what point in time does that change? Also going back to the Caribbean ridge turning off there is research based off the magnetic banding of sea floor spreading showing an over density of seafloor produced right after the impact globally indicating there seems to have been a global eruption pulse around Earth's mid ocean ridges in general with that impact so it is quite probable the correlation is causal at least in part so the rejoining of the Americas which just goes to show how messy tectonics are. Even Eurasia is complicated since there never was a European Continent rather most of Europe is either the pieces of the microcontinent Avalonia that Eurasia had carried away during its split from North America prior to the formation of the North Atlantic extension of the Atlantic associated with the Icelandic hotspot 56 Mya or formed from various accretionary wedges and island arcs that were added to Eurasia during the closure of the Tethys ocean. Plus on the eastern half of Eurasia you have two major continental plates moving separately from Eurasia the Amur plate(aka north China plate) and Yangtze Plate(aka south China plate) in addition to the Sunda plate which contains a lot of accumulated island arc accretions that form a continental shelf and contain land that makes up all or parts of (southern China, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Burma/Miramar Singapore Indonesia etc.) even if it is chiefly considered an oceanic plate. The sea of Japan is also a bac arc basin and thus Japan is technically still part of Eurasia and or Amur demonstrating that no continent divides neatly. Well except maybe greater Sahul the greater continental shelf of Australia as it is surrounded by passive margins.

[@biggibbs4678]

Usually for species they don't include central America. That's because Central Americas climate allows for a zone of much greater species diversification, it takes an animal with different adaptations to move north of that. Many other animals ranges stop exactly how far North the other possums do in central America.

[@biggibbs4678]

@@Catlily5 there's no single definition of continents

[@dustinclark3390]

Informative and entertaining

[@CaraTheStrange]

Loving the ponytail look!

[@R1987R]

Good to see you looking healthy man! Nice video

[@peterbreis5407]

The Australian possum (I have several living in my chimney) was called after the American opossum. It is not a local name.

[@catman9985]

I leave cat food outside for stray cats, the possums love it too, so I let them feast

[@wendywoo7031]

Aw damn! That little furface is so cute. I think the cutest things we have in our UK trees are squirrels, they're pretty damn cute, but the opossum wins

[@sadie4479]

I LOVE opossums so much!! They are so heckin cute!! 😍

[@hanphyoaung3386]

pls upload more video about animals.I love scishow.I always watch

[@insu_na]

Ahhh so happy I stayed up late and caught this video :O I love Opossums so much :O they're adorable

[@HorzaPanda]

Better title: How Did North America End Up with the Best Marsupial?

[@TechBearSeattle]

Opossums also are really good at pest control, as they love to munch on ticks. They are also important scavengers and help to recycle dead animals back into reusable environmental nutrients. Great animals and worth cultivating their friendship.

[@allyjay7395]

There been a few generations of the same opossum family I feed scraps out the back door. They are very gentle and skittish.

[@thepeff]

Fun fact: Possums are the ugliest animal that still loves you and expects great things from you.

[@opossumoutlaw7534]

They're not ugly :(

[@FosterBaba]

Second ugliest. First goes to your mom (sorry, the set up was too perfect 😅)

[@glenngriffon8032]

@@opossumoutlaw7534 Right on. they're adorable little critters

[@scottslotterbeck3796]

There are darling

[@JaneDoe-rj4jn]

I LOVE seeing pics of mama possums with tonnes of babies clinging to her as she tries to amble along. It’s unsettling yet adorable at the same time.

[@Alexagrigorieff]

An opossum has been visiting my persimmon tree lately and munching on the fruits in pretty loud manner.

[@RubyDoobieScoo]

I feel like you could a video on species (or familes/orders/etc) that went extinct in one place but came back like marsupials in North America or how Horses originated there, went extinct, survived in Asia and were then reintroduced to North America by Europeans.

[@bkjeong4302]

This one is even crazier as it was actually the same species returning in domesticated form, not just the same group of animals. Equus ferus (the animal we domesticated to create the domestic horse) was once found across the Northern Hemisphere.

[@rogue3398]

I dpn't know why you guys upload at 5pm, but I really appreciate it because I'm nocturnal and this is the only channel I can comment on while the videos are still new 🤣

[@sem_identitificador]

Great video! Small correction tho, Sinodelphys Szalayi has been questioned as the first metatherian (Bi et al. 2018) making the most ancient record for the group from North American triassic .

[@FilbieTron]

Missed you Michael Aranda!

[@sylvesterlawson5383]

The ponytail 😍 love it

[@ITS-HALBY]

I was sitting at a park bench one night and I heard the tiniest little squeak nearby, I saw movement so I turned on my flashlight and peered around the table expecting a mouse or worst case scenario a skunk, but instead sitting there staring at me is a baby possum, probably just now on its own. Just after spotting it, the small critter squeaked again and scurried off into the ravine looking back for a split second. Honestly cute little animals

[@Mrbfgray]

HEY I've been wondering about this forever! :D

[@Salty.Peasants]

Largest opossum I've seen was bigger than most stray dogs in my city. Had my headlights not shown on it rummaging through the garbage bags on the sidewalk I would have thought just that.

[@brittyvegas9482]

I absolutely love our opossums here in Virginia ...they are our only marsupial so i think they are super special and amazing animals

[@Frog888]

I saw my first opossum the other day. It was minding it's business walking around the neighborhood bar. Good times.

[@yosoyroman875]

This was a lot of fun

[@samuelgibson780]

Top notch wordplay!

[@stevehuffman7453]

Had a pet possum (and a fully equipped skunk) when in junior high and Highschool. Both, like our cat, loved empty later grocery bags (anyone else remember those??) boxes, and picknic baskets. A few times a week the nearby marina/boat launch/general store/picknic area would call and ask us to come get Sally the Skunk. She was trying to get in folk's bags, boxes, and picknic baskets. 😊 She never did spray or bite anyone or their dog.

[@gutspraygore]

Living in Florida for several years, saw a lot of opossums. They have a reputation for playing dead, but it's not true. They stand their ground and hiss at you very creepily. It makes you think they have rabies or something when they do that. So, I guess it works.

[@anyascelticcreations]

According to the other comments here, their body temperature is too low to contract rabies. Cool, huh!? I'm actually really hoping they can look fierce when needed. Because when I'm able to buy land, I'm hoping to bribe some to stay and eat the ticks. We have mountain lions and coyotes and bear here. So, the little opossums would have to put on a good show to survive.

[@bob7975]

They do have large mouths full of very sharp teeth. Watching one yawn is unforgettable.

[@carreteras101]

right on! opposums are good to have around.

[@brynadoodle]

Your hair looks so great up!!!!

[@austinmcmahan6267]

LOVE YOUR PONYTAIL!!!!!!! youre so hansome. so cute

[@celarts5752]

Opossums are heccin adorable

[@pRODIGAL_sKEPTIC]

I've always wanted to know this!

[@HTXrios]

I'm glad you made this video I never thought of possums as a bad animal or pest but reading the comments is crazy the amount of people that where misinformed about them

[@tammystockley-loughlin7680]

I see one regularly moving along the side of the road, doing its opossum thing. Positive vibes from New Hampshire, remember to be kind to each other and yourself during this pandemic and social crisis

[@dschlie6669]

Fascinating! I always thought opossums were cool - creepy, but cool

[@Tfin]

Earlier this year, Brilliant took the interactivity of their daily challenges, and chucked in the bin.

[@benmcreynolds8581]

I just found and hung out with a baby opossum here in Oregon while hiking the other night with a flashlight and my dogs. I made sure my dogs didn't bother the little guy.

[@katmandudawn8417]

My dog once tried to play with a very confused baby possum. She thought it was one of the ferrets and couldn’t understand why it wouldn’t play tag. Of course she also once stopped during a walk, stuck her nose in the dirt and pulled out a very disoriented mole. It too was unharmed and my daughter had to put it back in it’s tunnel. She said it was amazingly soft. Hettie never does more than dampen then slightly with kisses.

[@amandag1329]

What an absolutely precious story! Thank you for sharing!

[@anyascelticcreations]

So sweet! 💖💖💖

[@TheFeldhamster]

Moles have the most beautiful and soft fur! My dad once encountered one coming out of it's hole and let us kids touch it before releasing it again. I've never forgotten that. Many years later, as an adult, I got dwarf hamsters as pets - their fur is pretty similar. It even has the same dirt repellent features. If you offer your hamster actual vivarium earth, you can observe that it doesn't stick to the fur. The fur of these little underground dwellers is made to let them literally glide through their burrows.

[@Trund27]

Good Girl Hettie!!!

[@Trund27]

@@TheFeldhamster That’s so interesting!!

[@burtonyan8467]

This is really interesting, finally learned what makes a masupial, a masupial.

[@Domdrok]

One of the best critters we have in the states! Don't fear them!

[@patrickmccurry1563]

Pay no attention to the ones that are violent. /S I had to defend myself from one when a kid. And my GF, when young, had to defender herself with a weapon. Maybe Oregon just has more a aggressive sub-species. But I doubt it.

[@ronkirk5099]

Very interesting. Back in the day, I spent 6 months bicycle touring around Australia enjoying all the unique flora and fauna, and of course, the fine hospitality of the people.

[@Honey_Daddy]

I was dumpster diving once and saw movement in a bag. To my surprise, an oppossum stuck it's little nose out. It was cute and terrifying all at the same time.

[@SiqueScarface]

Somehow, this is the Horse story all over again: originated from North America, developing from Eohippus to Mesohippus and Miohippus to Megahippus, while side branches like Parahippus and Hippotherium left again and again, died out in their new habitats, until finally the Equini managed to escape extinction both in their new Eurasian habitats and the extinction of all horselike animals in North America at the end of the Ice Age, only to return as Equus caballus 500 years ago with the Spaniards.

[@Ozraptor4]

Camels originated in North America as well.

[@andresdeleon5160]

Very interesting

[@annaisannaing]

I was not prepared for ponytailed Micheal Aranda