Talk:Virginia Opossum
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Assessment comments
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RUIZ-PINA, Hugo A and CRUZ-REYES, Alejandro. The opossum Didelphis virginiana as a synanthropic reservoir of Trypanosoma cruzi in Dzidzilché, Yucatán, México. Mem. Inst. Oswaldo Cruz. [online]. July 2002, vol.97, no.5 [cited 18 May 2005], p.613-620. Available from World Wide Web: <http://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0074-02762002000500003&lng=en&nrm=iso>. ISSN 0074-0276.
"It is often seen near towns, rummaging through garbage cans, or dead by the side of the road." Aw jeez, is this the best that can be said about the poor beasties? Jquarry 06:26, 18 September 2006 (UTC)
The Virginia Opossum female usually has 13 nipples, twelve arranged in a circle with an additional one in the middle. http://www.oaklandzoo.org/atoz/azopssum.html
- Dead link. Try http://web.archive.org/web/20061211162129/http://www.oaklandzoo.org/atoz/azopssum.html to get archive copy. Terry Carroll 20:25, 18 July 2007 (UTC)
"Though some humans are fond of these creatures, many consider them to be rather ugly. They are commonly encountered as road kill." Isn't this a rather subjective, opinionated statement, and why does it even need to be on there? Instead of stating that many humans find them "rather ugly", why not say "Though many humans mistakingly consider opossums to be rats, opossums in fact are not closely related to rodents at all, rarely transmit diseases to humans, and are surprisingly resistant to rabies". Could this subjective "ugly" factor (or mistaken rat/disease analogy) be a significant reason why so many of them are killed on the road? Shanoman 22:02, 14 December 2006 (UTC)Shanoman
No mention of their ability to clmb trees either. There's one of the little guys up a tree in my yard right now. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.142.130.24 (talk • contribs).
[edit] teeth
I removed the statement "(the most among land mammals)that refered to its teeth, the numbat has 2 more teeth than the Virginia opossum. Zantaggerung 16:26, 23 March 2007 (UTC)
I don't think it is an accurate statement that Opossums will, "will defend themselves viciously".
NantucketNoon 08:45, 12 May 2007 (UTC)
'[T]he reaction [of 'playing dead'] seems to be quite non-voluntary, and to be triggered by extreme fear.'
'...[C}an and will defend themselves viciously...'
These are conflicting statements. Please show some reference to the Opossum 'defend[ing]... viciously'.
NantucketNoon 17:31, 9 June 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Origins
Something about opossum origins in S. America while it was an island continent, and its being one of the very few successful reverse migrators (S to N) might be in order. --Wetman 06:15, 14 July 2007 (UTC)
[edit] Well, removing the roadkill opossum photo without explanation, was rude
Especially as this common mode of death is thought important enough to be mentioned in the LEAD of the article! SBHarris 04:16, 6 January 2008 (UTC)
