ilikedragons wrote:
Possums really pass out from terror.
I'm not sure about that. I once had an opossum for a pet. She never did that, although she was often very frightened. Opossum are very timid animals and do frighten easily, but I have never heard of them fainting. Fainting would only make them more vulnerable, so survival-wise, a pretty big disadvantage.
But these other things are true about opossums:
They are nocturnal.
Thay have very developed sense of smell and touch.
They have very poor eyesight.
They have front paws similiar to raccoons, but not as nimble. Primarily they use their hand-like paws for climbing and griping branches.
Their tails are not fully prehensile like a monkey's. They can only use their tail to a limited degree to anchor and balance themselves in trees.
They cannot move very fast, especially when on the ground.
Their first line of defense is to look fierce by bearing all their teeth (which looks pretty mean, actually). If that doesn't work, they become rigid, hoping to appear unappetizing.
They will bite, and their bite can be very nasty. They often have a lot of bacteria in their saliva that can readily cause infection in humans.
While their teeth look like those of an carnivore, they are omnivores, and eat mainly fruits, flowers, leaves, roots, and bugs. They may also eat prey of other animals if abandoned and not too rancid. They will also eat most human food, dog food and cat food. They do not normally eat rotting or spoiled food.