# Why are opposums successful compared to other marsupials? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2012, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-opposums-successful-compared-to-other-marsupials/632589 "2012-08-25T07:57:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-opposums-successful-compared-to-other-marsupials/632589/21 "2012-08-25T22:49:39Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > What, are the placentals supposed to be capitalists and the marsupials socialists? (Maybe the monotremes are anarchists…) I don’t know about that, but the _felidae_ are libertarians. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-opposums-successful-compared-to-other-marsupials/632589/22 "2012-08-25T23:00:06Z")
Of course it’s ideological, and a matter of Placental Survival to boot! The International Conspiracy of Jewish Marsupial Bankers must be smashed before its nefarious quest for world domination can be realized!! The Master Aryan Races of Placentals are under attack, and must mobilize to destroy the evil ambitions of the Marsupial Conspiracy!!! Have not the ignorami ( **Colibri** , we’re looking at _you_) read and understood The Protocols of the Elder Marsupials of Zion??? Is the urgency of the crisis not obvious??? The Final Solution to the Marsupial Question is at hand!!! These failed evolutionary outcasts, undesirable parasites of the Mammalian Order, must be and will be eliminated!!! Wake up, fellow Placentals, and smell the sweet ambrosia of Enligtonment!!! Kow-tow no longer to the Marsupial “autorities” that have infiltrated the highest places in our governments and financial centers of power!!! Confront Pouches with Power!!! The willing dupes like **jayjay** and his fellow ignorant minions must be pushed aside, and the Master Race of Placentals will reign for 10-thousand years!!! ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-opposums-successful-compared-to-other-marsupials/632589/23 "2012-08-25T23:09:00Z")
> [@griffon502](#): > > **Trust me, I know about evolution way more than you do.** And marsupials being inefficient to placentals is not some idealogy, it’s a simple fact. You obviously ignore mountains of evidence in favor of your equalitarian view of the natural world, which I think shows how poor you are as a biologist as you shape your opinions around your ideology. (Bolding added) Words of evolutionary wisdom from a GRIFFON! ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-opposums-successful-compared-to-other-marsupials/632589/24 "2012-08-25T23:11:59Z")
> [@Senegoid](#): > > (Bolding added) > > Words of evolutionary wisdom from a GRIFFON! Well, son, when a mommy eagle and a daddy lion love each other very much… ---
**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:** [August 25, 2012, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-opposums-successful-compared-to-other-marsupials/632589/25 "2012-08-25T23:23:15Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Well, son, when a mommy eagle and a daddy lion love each other very much… [Griffin.](http://www.eaudrey.com/myth/images/Griffin.gif) [Griffon.](http://www.dog-breed-dictionary.com/images/brussels-griffon.jpg) Considering the OP’s spelling skilz, I’m not sure which one he intended.🙂 ---
**Author:** ![FuzzyOgre](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/a587f6/32.png) [@FuzzyOgre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FuzzyOgre)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 11:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-opposums-successful-compared-to-other-marsupials/632589/26 "2012-08-25T23:41:42Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Well, son, when a mommy eagle and a daddy lion love each other very much… Sometimes they dont. Sometimes they just get very drunk and hook up. I dont know much about Avian/Feline miscegenation, but if I could find a learned biologist around here, I’d surely ask some questions. ---
**Author:** ![Arrendajo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Arrendajo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrendajo)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-opposums-successful-compared-to-other-marsupials/632589/27 "2012-08-26T00:59:25Z")
> [@Oly](#): > > Not an answer but possibly related. When I was growing up on the western side of the PNW, VOs were a common site, live and especially as road kill. Suposedly they were brought here in the early part of the last century by SE migrants, as pets (!) [this](http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/opossums.html) guvmnt website says, but word on the street was that they were brought and set free to serve as a self-renewing food source. In any case, over more recent decades, the possums have, at least by my casual amateur observation, dwindled substantially. This has been accompanied by an equally noticeable rise of raccoons. I have noted and wondered about this same thing, Oly. When I was going to OSU in the early 1980s, opossums were common as dirt, and seeing road kills was an everyday occurance. I live in the same neck of the woods now, but I rarely see opossums live or dead. Raccoons, though are thick as thieves, though I seldom see them as road kills except for the one that ran in front of my car the other night and did $900 worth of damage to my front end. ---
**Author:** ![Belowjob2.0](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Belowjob2.0](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Belowjob2.0)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-opposums-successful-compared-to-other-marsupials/632589/28 "2012-08-26T01:18:48Z")
Related question: why haven’t raccoons outcompeted possums? They seem to occupy the same niche - eat the same food sources and frequent the same spaces. And who would win in a fight between possum and raccoon of similar size? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-opposums-successful-compared-to-other-marsupials/632589/29 "2012-08-26T01:32:54Z")
> [@Belowjob2.0](#): > > Related question: why haven’t raccoons outcompeted possums? They seem to occupy the same niche - eat the same food sources and frequent the same spaces. > > And who would win in a fight between possum and raccoon of similar size? 😃 South of Los Angeles here we have had a steady increase of Raccoons for several years now. The raccoon grows much larger than the possum. They seem to get to know one another along with the local cats and tolerate each other very well. Possums tend to graze quite a bit on earth worms and snails where the coons lean more toward pet food and garbage. Very common to see a house cat, raccoon and possum all at the same food dish or raiding the same trash can at a restaurant. Who ever is the biggest tends to eat first. Skunks, foxes and coyotes are more animals we are seeing more of today. The foxes and coyotes tend to stay within a couple blocks of an open field or drainage ditch. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 5:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-opposums-successful-compared-to-other-marsupials/632589/30 "2012-08-26T05:40:02Z")
> [@Belowjob2.0](#): > > Related question: why haven’t raccoons outcompeted possums? They seem to occupy the same niche - eat the same food sources and frequent the same spaces. > > And who would win in a fight between possum and raccoon of similar size? 😃 Possums breed very fast. Raccoons are somewhat more picky eaters than possums. A Raccoon, they can outweigh a possum 2-1. Of course, that’s a range. They are also a LOT smarter. We also have (as badger5149 sez) coyotes, who more or less also eat foods in the same sort of range as possums & raccoons. Several species have become very successful are they have learned to co-exist with humans- ravens, pigeons, possums, coyotes, raccoons, the rat, etc. The raven, being fast and smart, has learned to eat roadkill without becoming roadkill. I think joining them will be the peregrine falcon. They love to eat pigeons and can roost on hi-rise buildings. We have one female here in San Jose who has raised 5 batches of fledglings. I tip my hat to her, anything that eats pigeons is on my good list. ---
**Author:** ![HoneyBadgerDC](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/honeybadgerdc/32/1033_2.png) [@HoneyBadgerDC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/HoneyBadgerDC)\ **Post date:** [August 26, 2012, 1:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-opposums-successful-compared-to-other-marsupials/632589/31 "2012-08-26T13:47:52Z")
The pergrines as well as coopers hawks, sharp shins and few others are showing up more than ever around the South Bay area of Los Angeles. The common sparrow hawk which was very common is now seldom seen. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-are-opposums-successful-compared-to-other-marsupials/632589.md?page=1)