Playing possum like a hero

Playing possum like a hero


For those of you who don’t care for opossums, your feelings may change after hearing this.

Truth is, the opossum is a medical hero of sorts. Chances are you’ve heard about the dangers of ticks and diseases they spread. One of these is Lyme disease, which can affect dogs and people. Well, opossums are fastidious groomers, and during the process they eat ticks. Thousands of them. In fact, they seemingly never tire of chowing down on ticks, while ticks rarely get a chance to feed on them.

What’s more, bacteria responsible for Lyme disease don’t live in opossums like they do in white-footed mice and other wildlife carriers. So, the few ticks that do feed on opossums won’t pick up the bacteria and spread it to us or our dogs.

So, the next time you see a opossum, tip your hat. It’s a warrior in the battle against ticks.

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