Category: Mammals
The fox squirrel is the largest species of squirrel native to North America. They thrive in forests or urban neighborhoods where trees such as oak, hickory, walnut, and pine that produce winter-storable foods like nuts are found. They prefer habitats with little or no understory vegetation and spend more time on the ground than other species of tree squirrels.
The Opossum Ain’t Playing
Many people associate playing dead with the opossum - that’s where the term “playing opossum” comes from, after all. But something you might not know is that when an opossum feigns death, it really goes all out! Not content with merely closing its eyes and laying down, the opossum begins drooling profusely as if ill or even rabid, releases a putrid, greenish fluid from its anal glands that makes it smell like a decaying corpse, and after losing consciousness may even mimic rigor mortis! This is quite the elaborate routine, but it isn’t conscious: when an opossum plays dead, it has actually gone into shock due to stress.
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Discover Animals is a web-based educational resource offered by the NAIA
