# Possums that live in nests? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 17, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possums-that-live-in-nests/364905 "2006-07-17T18:49:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Blanche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Blanche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blanche)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possums-that-live-in-nests/364905/1 "2006-07-17T18:49:41Z")
I was trying to find some info on naked mole rats to win an argument and found some references to the “Delicate Slender Opossum” being a social animal. I found an article that says they live in nests underground and raise mushrooms and insects. I visit a few sites that frequently have “weird science”-type articles and this is the first I heard about this. [http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Delicate\_Slender\_Opossum](http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Delicate_Slender_Opossum) [http://www.biocrawler.com/encyclopedia/Eusociality](http://www.biocrawler.com/encyclopedia/Eusociality) ---
**Author:** ![Blanche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Blanche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blanche)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possums-that-live-in-nests/364905/2 "2006-07-18T20:51:52Z")
Wanted to bump this in the hopes that someone could tell me if these ‘hive possums’ are for real. ---
**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:** [July 18, 2006, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possums-that-live-in-nests/364905/3 "2006-07-18T21:17:18Z")
It’s complete bullshit. The species _Marmosops parvidens_ exists, and is quite widely distributed in northern South America, but is not known to have the kind of social structure described. That would be so extraordinary for a mammal that it would be front-page news in every science journal in the country, and I can’t find any links besides those you give (and others similar). Since the article cites no publications, I have no doubt it’s a hoax. [Here’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Delicate_Slender_Opossum) some discussion on Wiki about the article. ---
**Author:** ![Blanche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Blanche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blanche)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possums-that-live-in-nests/364905/4 "2006-07-18T22:20:43Z")
[QUOTE=Colibri] It’s complete bullshit. The species _Marmosops parvidens_ exists, and is quite widely distributed in northern South America, but is not known to have the kind of social structure described. That would be so extraordinary for a mammal that it would be front-page news in every science journal in the country, and I can’t find any links besides those you give (and others similar). Since the article cites no publications, I have no doubt it’s a hoax. [Here’s](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Delicate_Slender_Opossum) some discussion on Wiki about the article. [/QUOTE] Your link doesn’t seem to work for me. ---
**Author:** ![Blanche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a183cd/32.png) [@Blanche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Blanche)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/possums-that-live-in-nests/364905/5 "2006-07-18T22:22:43Z")
[QUOTE=Blanche] Your link doesn’t seem to work for me. [/QUOTE] I found it anyway, though. Interesting. I checked the history and it seems that this article was on Wikipedia for just three days, yet has been copied and referenced in many other places.