What is it Wednesday: December 30, 2020

 

Can you identify what's in this photo?

 

 

Each Wednesday morning 

on Camp Lutherlyn's Facebook page

 the Lutherlyn Environmental Education Program posts a photo. 

 

 

Readers have all morning and afternoon 

to make their best guess about what the photo is. 

 

Around 6 pm LEEP provides the answer and a brief explanation.

 

 

Each week's What is it Wednesday post 

will also be posted on the Nature of Lutherlyn blog, 

 after it is posted on Facebook,

sometimes with additional bonus information. 

 

In addition to bringing you current editions of What is it Wednesday 

on the Nature of Lutherlyn blog, 

we will be reposting old editions,

creating a What is it Wednesday archive. 

 

This photo was posted as a What is it Wednesday on

December 30, 2020. 

 

 

 

And the answer is....

 

 

This is a print of the front foot of a Virginia opossum. 

Possum tracks are easy to identify by their five widely splayed toes. The hind foot has an even more widely spread “thumb” that lays almost at a 90 degree angle from the rest of the toes. As with most animals, the print of the hind foot is larger, and the  prints of the hind and front feet usually overlap at least partially, as you can see in the longer views of the full track.

Virginia opposums, usually referred to as possums, are the only marsupial north of Mexico in the western hemisphere. When the babies are born they continue to develop and nurse in a pouch. Even after leaving the pouch they stay with their mother as they continue to grow, often riding on her back.  Possums have a short life – they only live about two years in the wild, four years in captivity.

When European settlers arrived in North America, the range of possums extended about to northern Maryland and southern Ohio. Their range has been steadily increasing northward, especially since the early 1900’s, and now extends all the way into southern Ontario and New England. Though they have spread into these colder areas, possums are not well adapted to winter weather and some do not survive colder winters in these places. They are great to have around however, as they are omnivores and eat many things we consider pests, including rodents and ticks!

Possums are famous for “playing possum”  - appearing to be dead when they are threatened. Not only are they stiff and immobile when this happens, but the lips pull back to show a foaming mouth and scent glands release a bad odor, often leading predators to leave the possum alone. This is not an “act” but an involuntary response, like fainting. If left alone, the possum revives after a few hours.

It is interesting how snow often reveals just how much is going on all around us, by showing the tracks of who has been coming and going. We are often unaware of how many animal neighbors we have and how active they are! Around the possum tracks are tracks of deer and birds, and nearby just out of the picture were those of squirrels and rabbits.

Tracks of raccoon, cats, foxes, and coyote are also not uncommon to see at Lutherlyn. For information on opportunities to visit Lutherlyn in the winter, and maybe catch a glimpse of this busy animal community and the tracks they leave behind, check out www.Lutherlyn.com! 

Like and follow Camp Lutherlyn on Facebook, to see What is it Wednesday posts when they come out and have the opportunity to share your guesses in the comments!