The North American wilderness has some fantastic wildlife. Red deer, grey wolves, black and brown bears, Mountain lions and so much more.
Though the cast of characters isn’t always made up of big, majestic creatures. It’s also got a healthy share of small, furry rascals, like the Skunk and Opossum. One is known infamously for its smelly spray, and the other has made its reputation for scavenging and hissing at its hindquarters.
But there’s more to the lives of these two mammalian maestros than meets the eye.
Skunks and opossums tend to overlap in the territories they inhabit. Though they won’t get into any ugly altercations like some bigger animals do, that isn’t to say they won’t have their own ways of interacting. An Opossum in this clip, submitted to the 2020 video contest, shows us what goes on in the wild when all of us aren’t looking.
Bettsy Potter captured this little interaction with a trailcam, and though it’s only 20 seconds long, it’s plenty entertaining enough.
For about 10 seconds or so, we see a Skunk minding its own business by a pond. After a long day of doing skunk stuff, it’s nice to have a drink to quench things. Only, its peace is about to be disturbed.
Along comes an Opossum, and with seemingly no motivation or reason, the Opossum nudges the skunk into the pond and walks away.
What a jerk, am I right?
We’ve all known Opossums to be cheeky and eccentric, hanging near the trash and hissing at their butts. I don’t think any of us took them to be this crafty. This Opossum saw the poor, unsuspecting Skunk and went for it.
But hey, maybe we’re missing part of the story here. This could be payback, perhaps? What if this Skunk sprayed onto this Opossum or one of its friends earlier?
Maybe he owed the Opossum money and hasn’t paid up yet.
Whatever the reason may be, this Opossum knew what it was doing. It knocked the Skunk into the pond like nobody’s business. It’s rather reminiscent of Patches from the From Software Souls games, who notoriously waits till the player turns their back so he can kick you down a hole.
Opossums hail from the order Didelphimorphia, and the particular Opossum in the video is a Virginia Opossum. Virginia Opossums are the only Didelphimorphs in North America, and they range pretty far. Skunks aren’t the only things that come across them.
Who knows what other animals these marsupials are knocking into pools?
Skunks, on the other hand, are a bit more familiar to people. The sight of a skunk, with its distinct white stripe and curled tail, is enough to make even the toughest of creatures flee. No one wants to put up with that repugnant, God-awful odor that it sprays.
That Skunk spray, that I hope you and I should never have the misfortune of smelling, actually comes from their butt glands.
Yes, surprised much?
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