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Impossumable
One of the funniest things I’ve ever seen was a ”fainting goat”. If you havn’t seen the video, you gotta check it out (it gets really good 50 seconds in). Either way, these chubby little goats will stiffen up and flop onto their sides as soon as they are startled. It doesn’t take much: Just swinging a bright christmas sweater around your head will send the goats into a frantic heap.
The older goats learn to lean up against something so they don’t fall over so ungracefully while others learn to hobble around on stiff legs until they regain muscle control. But most of the goats just end up rolling around on the ground.
I don’t know WHY a goat would think that falling onto its back with 4 hoofs pointing awkwardly up at the sky would improve any situation, but that’s what they do. The whole process lasts about 10 seconds because the goats immediately get back up again. Doesn’t seem like their hearts are really in it.
Possums, on the other hand, take things to another level: They are utterly dedicated to playing dead. If a foaming mouth and complete paralysis for up to 2 hours isn’t enough, a possum will even make itself SMELL like roadkill to convince us that no amount of poking will bring on a reaction. As far as I’m concerned, the possum is probably a favorite out of all the animals that have ever hissed at me and eaten their way through my pantry.
Possums are troopers from the very beginning: A mother plops out about 20 tiny babies that all have to ‘swim’ their way through her fur and to her pouch to develop further. I’ve stayed with a family of 20 kids before. It’s NOT fun. Poor possums…stuck in a sweaty little room with all of their brothers and sisters for three months. Nooooo thank you.
Anyway, I’m pretty much writing this story because I spent two hours drawing this damn possum cartoon for someone and wanted to have a reason to use it here too.
Some more fun possum (opossum) facts:
-Possums can’t jump
-This is completely unrelated to fact one, but “apasum” (the native term for the possum) means “white”
-Possums have opposable thumbs
-Possums are way better to have around than rats
-I hate rats
-A lot of older cook books call for opossum in their recipes
Oh, man, I LOVE the fainting goats. I could watch them forever. Poor dears.
Are “possum” and “opossum” interchangeable? I think they are. Whatever. I missed you and am glad you’re back.
Hey JD!
yeah, you can use either term. Man, glad to be back, but things are still crazy over here.