Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opossum
Please note that this fact was edited as the original quote from Wikipedia was removed for being inaccurate - thank you @anon6789@lemmy.world for the correction!
Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opossum
Please note that this fact was edited as the original quote from Wikipedia was removed for being inaccurate - thank you @anon6789@lemmy.world for the correction!
Thank you for pointing this out! I copied the text from Wikipedia a few months ago when making the graphics for these facts, and it looks like the article got edited because it was inaccurate. I will change it to maybe reflect the fact that they have 50 teeth, which is a lot for mammals.
Well, here is one of the big reasons I pursued working with these animals and they’re people in person… Not being able to trust everything you read, or sometimes the things you can’t find info on.
So the head rehabber and the animal education guy were both in this morning grabbing a pile of turtles, so I asked about the opossum bite. They looked at me like I was crazy thinking it was weak! 😄
They will do just about anything they can to not have to fight/bite, but she said the worst bite she ever got was from an opossum from that jaw muscle and those 50 teeth. So for whatever reason, they sound like they do have beartrap jaws. Their food doesn’t require it, their normal defensive style doesn’t require it, but they’ve got it!
So I withdrew my challenge. It seems I just have not been bitten by an angry enough opossum yet! 😅
I did get another squirrel bite today, but thankfully this one didn’t draw blood like the flying squirrel last week did!