# Opossums: Cute, or ugly?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [February 3, 2017, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911 "2017-02-03T15:32:57Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 3
### Author:  [@wolfman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfman)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2017, 8:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911/41 "2017-02-03T20:45:28Z")
ugly as hell.
> [@Johnny\_L.A](#):
>
> and they’re fastidious in their grooming,
And I don’t consider anything that smells like fermented diarrhea to be fastidiously groomed.
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2017, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911/42 "2017-02-03T21:36:03Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#):
>
> . . .On the bright side, they’re not as bad-tempered as raccoons.
Oh, for sure. Having trapped quite a few of both, when they are released back into the wild, possums are quick to scurry away on their three remaining feet. Raccoons wanna fight about it while still trapped. Just kidding about the feet. I use humane traps.
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### Author:  [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2017, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911/43 "2017-02-03T21:56:25Z")
I didn’t vote, because for me they fall somewhere in the vague “not cute but endearing in a feral sort of way” rating. One used to live in my back yard in Omaha. I would startle him (her?) sometimes when I went out in the yard at night. Then it would climb up the chain link fence enclosing the yard. If I walked up to it, it would get paralyzed there, because I was too close for comfort and it didn’t want to present its vulnerable side to me as it climbed down the fence. So it would sit up there and stare at me, snot dripping from its nose. Got run over by a car after a few months.
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### Author:  [@purplehearingaid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehearingaid)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2017, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911/44 "2017-02-03T22:16:49Z")
They look like overgrown rats and ugly at hell !
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### Author:  [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2017, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911/45 "2017-02-03T22:17:59Z")
Cuter than me.
L[Leave it the Japanese to make 'em Kawaii](http://vignette1.wikia.nocookie.net/rocketknight/images/4/45/Sparkster_(Rocket_Knight_Adventures_Japan_Manual_Artwork).png/revision/latest?cb=20160221233149)
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### Author:  [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2017, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911/46 "2017-02-03T22:22:11Z")
Rodentia, as an Order of Mammals, can be pretty cute. Take the chipmunk. Or the Hamster. Some people even like squirrels. Nature was not kind to the Opossum
Opossums are the Pete Rose of Rodents.
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2017, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911/47 "2017-02-03T22:25:39Z")
> [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](#):
>
> Rodentia, as an Order of Mammals, can be pretty cute. Take the chipmunk. Or the Hamster. Some people even like squirrels. Nature was not kind to the Opossum
>
> Opossums are the Pete Rose of Rodents.
Possums, of course, are not rodents. 😛
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### Author:  [@Trancephalic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trancephalic)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2017, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911/48 "2017-02-03T22:30:15Z")
Yeah, you and I are more closely related to rodents than any marsupial, including opossums
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2017, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911/49 "2017-02-03T22:31:14Z")
> [@Trinopus](#):
>
> the poll could have had a choice for “both.”
Could’ve.
Doesn’t.
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### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2017, 10:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911/50 "2017-02-03T22:39:12Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> Possums, of course, are not rodents. 😛
For certain values of ‘rodent’
> [@Merriam-Webster](#):
>
> [Rodent Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/rodent)
> Rodent:
>
> 1: any of an order (Rodentia) of relatively small gnawing mammals (such as a mouse, squirrel, or beaver) that have in both jaws a single pair of incisors with a chisel-shaped edge
>
> 2 : **a small mammal (such as a rabbit or a shrew) other than a true rodent**
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### Author:  [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2017, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911/51 "2017-02-03T23:16:49Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#):
>
> For certain values of ‘rodent’
Sure. 😛
(throws large unabridged at Earl)
(but he said “Rodentia, as an Order of Mammals,”…)
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2017, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911/52 "2017-02-03T23:28:24Z")
> [@August\_West](#):
>
> An opossum killed one of my chickens, so they aren’t getting any positive feedback from me on any aspect of their appearance, character, dignity, or behavior. I shoot them on sight.
I understand.
FIL (v.1.0) also shot them, “Because they have a lot of teeth”.
They haven’t messed with me or mine, so I leave them alone.
I did not know they raided chicken houses.
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### Author:  [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)
#### Post date: [February 3, 2017, 11:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911/53 "2017-02-03T23:32:38Z")
I vote ugly, which they are when get under the house and fight with my lil stupid yappers. BUT they can be cute if they are, ya know, over there away from me.
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2017, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911/54 "2017-02-04T00:11:42Z")
I found a baby wandering about in the back yard. We put it in a large Tupperware[sup]TM[/sup] container with holes. It escape and hid in the bookcase.
The cat was _very_ pissed off.
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### Author:  [@excavating\_for\_a\_mind](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/excavating_for_a_mind)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2017, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911/55 "2017-02-04T00:26:12Z")
> [@DrDeth](#):
>
> Possums, of course, are not rodents. 😛
Of course, they’re marsupials. :smack:
I knew that.
They still make Pete Rose look handsome.
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### Author:  [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2017, 1:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911/56 "2017-02-04T01:06:00Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#):
>
> I voted “cute,” but I can’t resist this opportunity to link to the brilliant [Everything What’s Wrong Of Possums: It’s All Of Them](http://the-toast.net/2016/05/12/everything-whats-wrong-of-possums-its-all-of-them/).
They are super ugly. But that article is great.
> [@](#):
>
> YOUR TAIL IS FULL OF THOUGHTS AND INTENTIONS AND YOUR MOUTH IS FULL OF MURDER
I was impressed that it noted that Australia has creatures called possums too, that looks much nicer. I wouldn’t scare [one of these](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/9a/2b/25/9a2b25215550f6ae92943c6429a19b51.jpg) or [especially these](http://www.australiangeographic.com.au/topics/wildlife/2012/04/leadbeaters-possum-on-the-brink-of-extinction) off my second story deck.
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### Author:  [@Karen\_Lingel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Karen_Lingel)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2017, 2:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911/57 "2017-02-04T02:11:43Z")
The way possums hobble down the road reminds me of the mutants in that X-Files episode called “Home” I believe. It was written (or directed?) by someone famous, possibly Stephen King. It was about a _seriously_ in-bred (and thus, mutant) family, where the sons were impregnating their mom, and the mom gave birth to a mutant-squared baby, so they buried it alive at home plate of some kids’ baseball field. (Ya know, because this baby was sooo mutant that even mutants couldn’t abide it :rolleyes:)
I hadn’t been watching X-Files and people were raving, _raving_, about it, so I decided to watch this famous episode, which is how I discovered X-Files wasn’t Sci-Fi, it was Horror. Yes it was, don’t even bother to tell me different.
Anyway, that’s what possums remind me of. Mutant globs of flesh, hobbling down the road, seen only in furtive glances, just like the mutants in that godawful X-Files episode.
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### Author:  [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2017, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911/58 "2017-02-04T02:52:49Z")
I can’t go with either cute or ugly. Like most animals, I think they look pretty cool–just the way they’re put together is fascinating to me.
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### Author:  [@Weisshund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Weisshund)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2017, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911/59 "2017-02-04T23:18:40Z")
Cute, they dont always snarl at you, especially if it is used to you, then it just kind of ignores you, unless you have been feeding it, then it wants to follow you around.
Probably not a good idea, better to let it do it’s own food thing.
Their fur is very soft, and they dont stink, unless humans have set up their trash as a buffet for them, then yea they stink like the trash can until they have gone off to clean themselves.
But if they are not in trash cans, they dont stink.
Yes, they will eat chickens if an easy opportunity presents it self, they are carnivores after all, but not terribly ambitious so if you secure your chicken coop well, they wont eat them.
neither Raccoons nor Opossums are rodents.
Possums took a wrong turn on the way to Australia with the rest of the marsupials.
Raccons are all American, and are their own animal family, i think the genus is eatamisanythingus 🙂
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### Author:  [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)
#### Post date: [February 4, 2017, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opossums-cute-or-ugly/778911/60 "2017-02-04T23:34:23Z")
> [@Weisshund](#):
>
> Raccons are all American, and are their own animal family, i think the genus is eatamisanythingus 🙂
washfoodusanythingus.
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