Creature Feature: The Opossum's Bum Rap

Here is a fun and informative video from Quest, a "multimedia series exploring northern California science, environment and nature." Our good friend Lauren Sommer is one of the producers, and in this segment she visits the Lindsay Wildlife Museum in Walnut Creek, CA, to learn about that mangy marsupial, the oft-derided opossum.

According to associate producer Joan Johnson, they get a "bum rap":

The truth is, if you ever get the chance to know one like we did, you'll see they are really sweet creatures. Most of the times that they find themselves in direct conflict with humans, it’s the human's fault. Their habitats are shrinking due to our development plans, which force them to live closer and closer to us. If you leave your pet food outside… well, who doesn't take a free snack when it's offered up? And the poor creatures only live for two to four years, so please folks, give the opossums a break!

QUEST on KQED Public Media.