Photographed by Bette Jackson



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Hi, I'm Dr. Jerry Jackson, out with the wild things. We all know the expression, “Playing opossum”: sort-of pretending to be asleep when you're really not, a favorite kids' trick after the magic hour when they're supposed to be in bed. The expression, of course, comes from a characteristic behavior of the Virginia opossum that is often described as a ruse to make predators think its dead. When you think about it, such a trick might not do much for the opossum because some predators are glad to find a tasty meal, dead or alive. However, it does sometimes work on discouraging dogs; a dog will grab a live opossum and shake it and when the opossum goes limp, it often drops it and leaves. When faced with an adversary, a Virginia opossum opens its mouth, bares its 50 teeth in a most threatening show, and drools excessively, enough to scare most humans. The Virginia opossum’s movements are slow and mostly bluff. If a viciousness bluff doesn't work, however, the opossum’s nervous system seems to become overloaded and it faints dead-away. It may be a behavior that saves the opossum's life, but there's no play to it.