Carpetbagger From Dixie

NORTHWARD AND WESTWARD

While some went north others headed west. They got as far west as Colorado and were halted by mountains and deserts. (Possums like to be near water and are seldom found above 4,000 feet.) But then man began toting possums over these barriers and turned them loose where none had been before. Those released in California early in this century spread northward at an astonishing rate until now they inhabit the Pacific Coast from Mexico to Canada.

The latest word on their distribution comes from Dr. E. Raymond Hall, of the Museum of Natural History of the University of Kansas. Dr. Hall heads a monumental project in which $100,000 has been spent in establishing the ranges of the various mammals of North America. They spent $1,200 just in finding the whereabouts of the opossum. Their results show that the old wanderer can now be found in all but seven of the United States, that it has pushed into Canada on the north and that its southern range extends all the way to northern South America.

The seven states believed to be possumless are Nevada, Utah, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, North Dakota and Maine.

With more possums around more people are becoming interested in them. Some neighbors of mine found that in addition to feeding their numerous cats on the porch they also had established a feeding station for several possums. Now the family watches through a window when the possums take over. As they eat, the possums hiss now and then at the cats which sit in a ring waiting for the uninvited guests to go away.

Another friend, Constantine Nicholas Messolonghites, known as Mike up in Bedford, N.Y. has an ideal setup for possum study. A pair moved into his heated garage last winter so he started feeding them. He passed many winter evenings watching them in comfort.

When Mike and other observers take a close look at a possum they see an animal that ought to be ashamed to go anywhere; it may be a curiosity but it is no beauty. About the size of a big cat, it is shorter and fatter. In general appearance it resembles a rat more than a cat. Its pointed white face is fitted out with black, beady eyes and ears like blackened potato chips, sometimes fringed with white. This face often wears a grin but it is a mirthless grin. At the other end they see a bare ratlike tail that is prehensile and more than half as long as the body. The fur on the body is usually gray but varies from white to nearly black. The big toes on the hind feet are opposable like human thumbs.

Sometimes when attacked and cornered the animal simulates death?"plays possum"?in a most convincing manner. I'll never forget the first time I saw this act. Although I knew that possums carried on that way. I was fooled. We had shaken it out of a tree and it had collapsed. Its mouth hung partly open and its lips were lax. The body was absolutely limp and when we poked it with a stick there was no sign of life. We waited a long time but finally went away. When we came back the possum was gone.

UNPREDICTABLE SPELLS

This doesn't mean that the possum will swoon every time you say "Boo!" These fainting spells are unpredictable. Often a possum will snarl, hiss, drool or try its best to run away without passing out at all. There seems to be some question as to whether it actually plays dead or is so overtaken by panic that it keels over in a coma. In either event scientists have found that when a possum puts on its act the heart rate slows down and it can stay passed out for as long as six hours.