3:37AM
Here is a great look at Pinkie's front toes. Another selling point of Opossums when it comes to humans is they don't dig up the yards of people who are yard proud. Note Pinkie has nails but they aren't of the heavy duty digging variety.
Which brings up another nifty attribute of Opossums. They have prehensile back feet.
Yes indeed. They have an opposable toe, akin to our thumb which opposes our fingers that allow for a good grip on things. That is how opossums manage to hang upside down with some stability.
Pinkie goes back to watching whatever it is that keeps taking her focus.
She licks her mouth. Also it is hard not to notice that Pinky has quite a number of "stick tights" on the top middle of her back where they are very difficult to get rid of them.
Wisconsin currently has a grand crop of stick tights going.
She goes down for another crunchy mouthful of sunflower seeds though now I seem to be the one she is keeping on eye on.
I'm not sure if Squirrel is just being cozy up against my leg or whether he's begun to find Pinky a little creepy.
Squirrel heads for the bathroom and Pinky watches him. Squirrel is still the creature, between he and I that Pinky is most interested in.
Squirrel plops down half in and half out of the bathroom with his back turned. ??? Pinky goes back to eating.
By the way opossum have 50 extremely sharp little teeth in their mouths and they know how to use them.
Then Pinky scopes the room again.
Pinky does a little more eating. Ahhh. Lets take a look at that
exposed foot.
Check out the horny growth on that "finger". I can't think of another creature except we and our relative species that have anything close to our fingernails.
Anybody out there think of one?
Pinky has pretty much "vacuumed" the sill clean.
She goes out on the slightly down slanted wooden cover of the coal chute and continues to forage.
That looks like a somewhat exposed front and a back foot center. Let's take a look.
Okay here is a front and back foot next to each other. I wonder if the opposable digit is in the same position as in humans, i.e. closest to the body like our thumbs?
Hmmm.
https://www.pinterest.com/pin/498984833691774092/ Photo by: Brittany Mils
The opposable digit is sort of nearest the body, like ours though in a track it appears to be coming out the back of the "palm".
The pink thing toward the back doesn't seem to have a visible nail...is it something else. It can't be a nipple as marsupial milk dispensers are in the pouch.
A penis?
Nope.
Why?
Marsupials have bifurcated penises.
What does a bifurcated penis look like you ask?
http://possumlover777.wixsite.com/opossumcare/anatomy-1
Here is an example. Definitely not what we are looking at on our opossum.
I'm assuming now that the pink naked thing toward the rear of our opossum is a toe from the other back foot.
Then Pinky did something utterly endearing.
She licked her front paws and proceeded to wash her face.
And kept washing it until it reached her level of satisfaction.
Then she went to the edge of the coal chute cover, checked out the area and slide silently into the night.
Every evening now I make sure the windowsill has a plentiful supply of sunflower seeds at dusk.
And every night since, around midnight Squirrel the cat sets up camp on the floor beneath window and waits.
Sometimes a wildlife adventure can be had just by heading to the bathroom to brush your teeth.
Keep watching!
Donegal Browne
All times AM
3:35 Early yesterday morning, I'd been working on photographs and headed for the little bathroom which is just off the laundry/animal room. It was dark but I could see that Squirrel the cat was staring fixedly at the window which overlooks the bird feeding area. Pyewacket, the other cat was sitting a few feet away also staring at the window.
I go closer and peer out.
Wow! A opossum and Squirrel are having a staring contest. I went for the camera but it was so dark I couldn't get a focus. I cracked the bathroom door with the light on inside.
Squirrel and the opossum continued to stare at each other. Still not enough light for a picture. I pulled the string for the general light fully expecting an end to the interlude.
Nope. It was then I saw that even with eyes locked on the cat the opossum was chewing.
Ahhh. Earlier in the day, I'd put a hefty pile of sunflower seeds along the outside window sill just above the big wooden tip up door for coal delivery (It appears much like the flip up tops of 19th century storm cellars.) in hopes of luring birds closer to the window. No soap on that ploy but Ms. Opossum is making the best of the birds negligence.
And the flash on the camera didn't bother Opossom at all.
She turns her head and chews while looking towards the front yard. She is much smaller than Fluffy the opossum who used to visit the feeding area in Milton. Therefore the pronoun "she"and the name Pinky...due to her pink toes.
Squirrel watches a seed hull floating in the water bowl.
Pinky chews and fixedly watches something out in the night. Not only do opossums eat seeds, they eat just about anything...seeds, vegetation, cockroaches, beetles, people food, cat food, dog food, and grubs. The also hunt rodents and birds.
Basically, if you name it, they probably eat it.
Pinky goes for another mouth full of sunflower seeds.
She chews and Squirrel pretends not to be interested.
Pinky chews and looks as if she is considering Squirrel as a possible meal.
That was a joke. Opossums do not hunt cats though they do partake if an animal is roadkill. Opossums are major members of nature's clean up crew.
Back in the day, 70 million years ago, the marsupial Opossums walked among the dinosaurs.
They must be doing something right.
Blogger isn't allowing me to add another photo, therefore this is the end of Part 1.
Donegal Browne
For those of you who haven't met him yet, this is Quicksilver the African Grey Parrot who lives with me. Well Silver has appropriated a watermelon/strawberry Tootsie Pop from Halloween.
Note his expression. He knows he's busted.
He then does what every self respecting parrot does when busted with purloined food he isn't supposed to be eating...
He chews faster.
I do wonder how exactly he got the Tootsie Pop and the best way to get it away from him.
Now keep in mind he is still working on getting the wrapper off and having only watched humans enjoy Tootsie Pops he doesn't know yet that having saliva is a very important part of tasting a Tootsie Pop.
Silver does not have saliva on his tongue. Though in the very back of his mouth there is secretion to aid swallowing and Tootsie Pops do smell fruity so tempting. Particularly this new double flavor.
The hard candy wouldn't kill him but there is that little problem of the chocolate Tootsie Roll center.
I say, "C'mon, Silver, give me the candy".
Silver's response is to chew faster, take a slightly more belligerent stance, and keep a closer eye on me.
Great.
Last I saw the Toosie Pops they were in a bowl on the counter in the kitchen which is several rooms away from his current position on top of his cage. And his wings are clipped as he was sashaying around the house chewing important things to bits when I wasn't looking.
Though he now has two primaries on each side so he can manage to fly to the ground without going "splat" and walk around the house at his leisure if I don't happen to hear the wing flaps.
No, he is in very little jeopardy from the other pets, Pyewacket and Squirrel the cats and Tig the Dog know he has a very sharp beak, isn't afraid to use it, and they are often his partners in food stealing crime anyway. They know he doesn't have a problem sharing the spoils.
Which he does readily. Remember the raw hamburger episode?
Silver is now down to the hard candy portion inside the wrapper.
Note he no longer has that intent look in his eye about getting the candy. No Saliva hence no sweetness.
When I reach for it, he willingly gives it up.
And likely goes back to plotting another heist for something that doesn't require saliva to savor.
Oh and for the political junkies who need a few laughs at this point in the presidential election process... I'd heard that Michael Moore's one many show was funny and cheering. Here is a link in case you missed that chapter.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awXhbh3KUVM
P.S. I later discovered it was Squirrel the Cat who was originally fishing the Tootsie Pops out of the bowl in the kitchen and batting them around the house.
