Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.
BANDED ANT-EATER.
From an anatomical point of view, this is one of the most remarkable of the pouched mammals.
The Common or Virginian Opossum, while the only representative of the Marsupial Order found in the temperate latitudes of the North American Continent, has a very considerable range of distribution, occurring in equal abundance throughout the tropical regions of South America. In these warmer latitudes it differs to such an extent in the character of its fur and other minor points that it was for some time regarded as a distinct species, and was distinguished by the title of the Crab-eating Opossum. Biologists are, however, now agreed that the supposed species is only a local variety. As a matter of fact, a very considerable amount of variation in the colour and markings is found to exist among the individuals of the most familiarly known northern race. In form the animal may be suitably compared to a huge rat, nearly equalling a cat in size, with an abnormally large head and pointed snout. The tail is long, almost naked for the greater portion of its length, and pre-eminently prehensile. The fur is of a mixed character, consisting of an undergrowth of a fine, close, woolly texture, through which protrudes a less dense series of long bristle-like hairs. The colour of the fur ranges from black to white, and includes all varieties of intermixture. The face, more especially in the northern race, is usually much the lightest or altogether white, while in the tropical South American examples it is more often darker, or it may be completely black.
The opossum, like the rat, is an omnivorous feeder; and being of so much larger size, and possessing an insatiable appetite, constitutes itself a veritable pest to the fruit-grower, the agriculturist, and the poultry-farmer. In effecting its entrance to hen-roosts or other food-yielding enclosures, it exhibits an amount of cunning and pertinacity possessed by no other mammal. Caught red-handed in these depredations, it has recourse to stratagems which have won for it a reputation that has long since passed into a household word. Feigning death, or "playing 'possum," is a game at which it is well known to be a past-master, but by which it still frequently succeeds in hoodwinking the unwary, and so saves its skin. Discovered thieving, and receiving perhaps a haphazard but by no means disabling blow, it at once collapses, and with film-covered eyes and protruding tongue is to all intents and purposes dead. It may be kicked round the premises, and finally probably taken up by the tail and flung ignominiously outside, without betraying vitality by even so much as a wink. But no sooner is the coast thoroughly clear of the avenger than the stiffened limbs relax, the eyes reopen, and Brer 'Possum trots off, as fresh as ever. Maybe it is the ripening maize or the persimmon-patch that next engages his attention, and in either case he walks in and feeds right royally, laying up a goodly store of fat against the approaching winter months of scarcity.
Photo by W. Saville-Kent, F.Z.S.] [Milford-on-Sea.
YAPOCK, OR WATER-OPOSSUM.
In habits, although not in size and colour, this marsupial may be compared to a wolf.
Away from human habitations the opossum is an essentially arboreal animal, living and breeding for the most part, like his Australian cousins, in hollow trees, and making excursions therefrom in all directions in quest of food. His much-mixed natural diet may consist of tender shoots and leaves, and the wild grapes and the many other berries and fruits the forest produces. He craves, however, after a due admixture of animal pabulum, and birds and their eggs, insects, lizards, and the smaller mammals furnish their quota to his menu. Crustacea, such as crabs and the crayfish which abound in the American streams and marshes, have an irresistible attraction for him; and it is on this account that, in the southern area of his distribution, where these crustacea are so plentiful as to constitute his main diet, and his face is browned by the more glowing sun, he is known by the title of the Crab-eater.