Toots Rileyopossums naturally have big round ears, but you often see them with crumpled ears or no external ears at all because they are very prone to frostbite.
boost to give an opossum a pair of earmuffs
another thing about opossums is that they are not terribly bright.
you can estimate an animal's intelligence not based on straight brain size, but rather based on its brain size relative to its body size. This can be measured by counting how many dried beans fit into the brain case in a species' skull.
Raccoons, cats, and opossums are roughly the same size. A raccoon brain case can fit 150 beans. A cat's can fit 125. But an opossum's, bless its heart, can only fit 25 beans.
The most important thing I can tell you about opossums, though, is that they breed pretty much all year round, but especially between February and June. so if you see a dead possum on the road and it's safe to stop, it's always good to check to see if it's a female. If so, check her pouch (pictured on a live possum) for babies. They can live for several days in her pouch after she's been killed, so you can often save the babies and take them to your local wildlife rescue.
Silence of the Dems 🐼@Chinchillazilla also Opossums are VERY RARELY infected with rabies because their low body temperature makes it difficult for the virus to survive.
@dennis_reichel yes! essentially, to get rabies, an opossum would have to already be sick from something else and running a fever, because at their normal body temperature, the virus can't reproduce and infect anything.
DebbieDowner
@DebbieDowner OH MY GOD
I'M SO JEALOUS
future escapee@Chinchillazilla Is it advisable to try and rehab rescued babies (what is the correct term for them, pups? cubs?) or should we take them to a wildlife rescue? we have cats so am concerned about keeping them segregated for safety and also about returning them to the wild after being spoiled rotten
@a9ymous I would err on the side of taking them to a rehab unless their eyes are open and they're eating solid food and stuff. I imagine it's really hard to keep the little naked ones alive on your own
StevenDBT@Chinchillazilla No wonder they make up most of the roadkill where i live
Ol' Bronco@Chinchillazilla don't let the alt-right hear of your new bean-centric intelligence model.
@Bronco those sad Nazi sons of bitches can only fit 5 beans
Pawdraig@Chinchillazilla 2️⃣5️⃣precious yelling beans 🙏
Manroll Steamheimer@Chinchillazilla fuckin same
Lucky 
Nines@Chinchillazilla I don't care if their brains don't work so good, I love them to bits anyway 
HongPong@Chinchillazilla literally smol beans
Aspartame@Chinchillazilla WTF possums. Move further south!
Ɉeni Ʀouge@Chinchillazilla I am loving all this wholesome opossum love
My Own Bear Hands@Chinchillazilla
I actually saw an opossum for the first time in my alley like last week.
It. Was. GLORIOUS
@thesyc66 one night when my cat was missing for 15 days (he's home it's fine), I went out looking for him after midnight, because I read that they're less skittish and more likely to come to you then.
I was a couple blocks away and I saw an injured cat dragging itself down the road. Oh no, I thought, it's Leo and he got hit by a car.
I was like ten feet away when it turned around and revealed that it was in fact an uninjured possum. We were both terrified and ran in opposite directions, lmao.
Farî@Nerts are your ears frostbitten nerts
patter@Chinchillazilla
For only 5 cents a month, you could help us supply earmuffs to this and other opossums
For only 5 cents a month, you could help us supply earmuffs to this and other opossums