# Most intelligent marsupial **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [April 14, 2020, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774 "2020-04-14T15:34:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774/41 "2020-04-18T22:36:09Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > They weren’t originally native to New York, but have spread north from around Maryland since maybe 1900. They may well have been in rural and suburban areas by the 1950s. However, I spent a lot of time in parks like Pelham Bay Park and Bronx Park in the 1950s and 1960s and was keenly interested in natural history. The fact that I never saw or heard of opossums in the area implies that they weren’t present, at least in any numbers. > > I think I first became aware that possums were present in my neighborhood in the Bronx about 10 years ago. This is an area of mostly one and two family houses with some apartment buildings, and lots of trees on the street and in backyards. I’m not surprised they’ve shown up there. I never heard anyone mention seeing possums in Brooklyn when I lived there in the nineties, though. If Coyotes can come to the Bronx (I seem to remember them being sighted in Van Cortlandt Park), there’s no reason possums can’t. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2020, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774/42 "2020-04-18T22:45:01Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > If Coyotes can come to the Bronx (I seem to remember them being sighted in Van Cortlandt Park), there’s no reason possums can’t. Yes, [coyotes have been present in the Bronx](http://bronx.news12.com/story/37421138/coyotes-in-the-bronx-yes-and-theyre-likely-here-to-stay)for several years now. There’s actually much more wildlife throughout the city than when I was growing up 50 years ago. I was in Pelham Bay Park in December and saw a herd of 13 White-tailed Deer, something I never saw years ago. Harbor seals are also regular on the offshore rocks off the park now. I’m told there are flocks of Wild Turkeys on the golf courses. ---
**Author:** ![P-man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/p-man/32/3606_2.png) [@P-man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/P-man)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2020, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774/43 "2020-04-19T00:00:25Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Yes, [coyotes have been present in the Bronx](http://bronx.news12.com/story/37421138/coyotes-in-the-bronx-yes-and-theyre-likely-here-to-stay)for several years now. > > There’s actually much more wildlife throughout the city than when I was growing up 50 years ago. I was in Pelham Bay Park in December and saw a herd of 13 White-tailed Deer, something I never saw years ago. Harbor seals are also regular on the offshore rocks off the park now. I’m told there are flocks of Wild Turkeys on the golf courses. Are there any new critters in Manhattan? Seems like mammals would have a hard time getting there unless they hopped on the 1/9. The other boroughs I can understand, since they could come into Queens and Brooklyn from further out on the Island, and they probably never really disappeared in Staten Island. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774/44 "2020-05-06T02:13:29Z")
So I sit down on my porch tonight to read a little in the cool night air as I often do, and almost as soon as I do, something starts nuzzling against my lower leg. I shine my phone’s light down to see which cat it is, and it was a young possum. (Not a toddler but probably not quite a tween.) ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 1:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774/45 "2020-05-06T13:51:44Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > So I sit down on my porch tonight to read a little in the cool night air as I often do, and almost as soon as I do, something starts nuzzling against my lower leg. I shine my phone’s light down to see which cat it is, and it was a young possum. (Not a toddler but probably not quite a tween.) Wild animals to odd things when they have rabies, but possums are immune to rabies, aren’t they? ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774/46 "2020-05-06T14:27:52Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > but possums are immune to rabies, aren’t they? Mostly. I attribute the behavior to my already stated thesis: possums are _dumb_. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774/47 "2020-05-06T16:14:23Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > Are there any new critters in Manhattan? Seems like mammals would have a hard time getting there unless they hopped on the 1/9. The other boroughs I can understand, since they could come into Queens and Brooklyn from further out on the Island, and they probably never really disappeared in Staten Island. There were [26 sightings of coyotes in Manhattan](https://nypost.com/2019/06/29/coyote-sightings-in-nyc-are-surging-and-mostly-in-manhattan/) last year, including 12 in Central Park. There are [14 bridges between the Bronx and Manhattan.](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_River)Some of them pedestrian or railroad bridges, and most of the rest have pedestrian walkways. It wouldn’t be that difficult for a coyote or other wildlife to cross during the middle of the night. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774/48 "2020-05-06T16:15:43Z")
> [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Wild animals to odd things when they have rabies, but possums are immune to rabies, aren’t they? Not entirely. Any mammal can get rabies. However, it’s rare in opossums, probably due to their relatively low body temperature (94-97 F). Rabies prefers higher temperatures. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2020, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774/49 "2020-05-07T15:56:10Z")
> [@P-man](#): > > Are there any new critters in Manhattan? Seems like mammals would have a hard time getting there unless they hopped on the 1/9. The other boroughs I can understand, since they could come into Queens and Brooklyn from further out on the Island, and they probably never really disappeared in Staten Island. There are definitely opossums on Staten Island. Their predators include owls, raccoons and dogs, but their main enemy is cars. _“From St. George to Tottenville, and from Midland Beach to Mariners Harbor, marsupials are lurking in every neighborhood on Staten Island. Most of the time they do so under cover of darkness. The marsupial in question here is the Virginia opossum, commonly known as the possum.”_ > **[Do any marsupials live on Staten Island?](https://www.silive.com/news/2015/06/do_any_marsupials_live_on_stat.html)** > > STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- From St. George to Tottenville, and from Midland Beach to Mariners Harbor, marsupials are lurking in every neighborhood on Staten Island. Most of the time they do so under cover of darkness. The marsupial in question... There was also [a Staten Island kangaroo](https://www.cnn.com/2015/10/19/living/kangaroo-on-the-loose-staten-island-feat/index.html), but not for long. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2020, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774/50 "2020-05-07T18:33:16Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > There are definitely opossums on Staten Island. Their predators include owls, raccoons and dogs, but their main enemy is cars. “Uh oh, a car. I know, I’ll play dead!” ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2020, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774/51 "2020-05-08T01:02:36Z")
I once live-trapped a possum in my yard. When I found him he was slack and unmoving and I thought he was dead. I opened the trap and shook it a bit. No response. Eventually I had to tilt it to slide out the body. No movement, no breathing, no signs of life. I went back in the house. When I returned a few minutes later the possum had vanished. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2020, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774/52 "2020-07-14T01:16:12Z")
I ejected [a youngish possum](https://imgur.com/a/cOZDfOX) from the house a couple of nights ago. The steps to managing to capture a possum are 1.) Walk over to possum (not much need to hurry) 2.) Pick up possum. (Reinforcing my position that possums are dumb.) Unfortunately I didn’t get a clear photo, as it turns out to be difficult to photograph a possum at night with a cell phone with one hand while dangling said possum from the other, but if you look around the general genital area on the right-hand photo you will see what may be some green ooze, a step in the possum’s “don’t eat me, I’m disgusting” display. ([Here](https://imgur.com/a/fzGcyfz) are photos from around 15 years ago with a younger possum and better lighting and camera. In the right-hand photo you can clearly see his nose starting to drip, another part of the “really, you do _not_ want this in your mouth” display.) ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774/53 "2020-07-16T17:31:16Z")
Interesting that you (briefly) mistook a possum for a cat. When I first encountered an opossum in real life (coastal California in 1995), it was on the front step, where a housemate had been leaving out bowls of kitty kibble to feed the neighborhood cats. Opossums really liked to chow down at our front step. Their reaction when discovered was hilarious. They’d like stop eating, and slowly look up…slowly turn around…and amble away. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 8:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774/54 "2020-07-16T20:12:10Z")
> [@Limmin](#): > > When I first encountered an opossum in real life (coastal California in 1995), it was on the front step, where a housemate had been leaving out bowls of kitty kibble to feed the neighborhood cats. Opossums really liked to chow down at our front step. [This](https://imgur.com/a/azs9OSW) is another photo from around 15 years ago. They can be a little cute when they are small. And maybe when you are [feeding them cookies](https://imgur.com/a/EsMCekU) through an open window. But when you have just caught one, stored it in a plastic garbage can, and stuck a camera lens in it’s face, not so much. [https://imgur.com/a/Wk3YD4z](https://imgur.com/a/Wk3YD4z) ---
**Author:** ![Tamerlane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tamerlane/32/7602_2.png) [@Tamerlane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamerlane)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774/55 "2020-07-16T20:16:05Z")
> [@Darren\_Garrison](#): > > But when you have just caught one, stored it in a plastic garbage can, and stuck a camera lens in it’s face, not so much. But look at those pearly whites! That’s a opossum that brushes regularly. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774/56 "2020-07-17T12:25:58Z")
I did a massive shed clean-cut a couple of days ago. I should have been expecting it, after discovering a huge possum dozing in a cardboard box in that shed two years previously…but it was still a surprise to pick up a black plastic plant flat and find TWO possums sacked out underneath. I easily persuaded one to scuttle out the door. The other didn’t want to give up his cozy nook, and hid his head under a garbage bag, ratty body sticking out (“if I can’t see him, he can’t see me”). Sorry Clem, gotta find new digs. ---
**Author:** ![Limmin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f04885/32.png) [@Limmin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Limmin)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774/57 "2020-07-17T18:19:33Z")
It’s so cute! Like a cat with an elongated nose… ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774/58 "2020-07-18T14:09:53Z")
> [@Tamerlane](#): > > But look at those pearly whites! That’s a opossum that brushes regularly. When I showed that picture to someone, she made the same comment. ---
**Author:** ![Pardel-Lux](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pardel-lux/32/20182_2.png) [@Pardel-Lux](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pardel-Lux)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2020, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774/59 "2020-07-18T16:02:11Z")
Makes me wonder whether ewoks are marsupials. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2020, 3:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774/60 "2020-07-19T03:15:46Z")
My very first thought was also, “But look how clean and WHITE those teeth are!” That possum flosses regularly, and his dentist is proud of him. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/most-intelligent-marsupial/851774.md?page=4)