This One Photo Will Make You See Opossums in a Whole New Light

Come to think of it, the bad reputation opossums get from people does not make much sense at all. They are generally thought and spoken about as ugly, somehow scary-looking, sometimes even called straight-up creepy – and all of those adjectives tend to lose their validity as soon as you actually look at one of those little animals.

Opossums are very misunderstood in more than one way. For example, they are not rodents, like many people believe, but marsupials – and they are the only marsupials in North America at that! (You would think that should gain them at least a little bit of respect, right?) That also means that, just like kangaroos, possum mothers carry their babies in their pouches and, when they are born, little opossums are perfectly tiny and hairless. But when the time comes to leave mom’s pouch, those little fellows are already completely different – and, first of all, seriously fluffy.

WildCare, a wildlife rehabilitation and education center, is currently taking care of its first litter of little opossums of the spring – and the tiniest one of the siblings is a perfect illustration of how cute opossums can be!

Just the sight of this little face will hopefully make anyone abandon their ideas of opossums being dirty and ugly – and make them start seeing these little marsupials as the wonderful animals that they really are.

Opossums are remarkable animals and it is senseless to think that they don’t deserve to have a great life just because of our strange prejudices against them. What is more, these animals have many qualities we simply overlook – like their great adaptability, strong immune system, use of trickery to survive danger – and they actually often help us out – by eating garden pests, venomous snakes (since they are immune to their venom), and destroying ticks.

The little opossums at WildCare had a lot of luck to be rescued – but it is important to remember that if you ever come across a wild animal in need of help that you contact a wildlife rehabilitation professional before touching them. Click here for a list of hotlines that could be helpful.

To learn more about WildCare and their work for animals in need, click here.

Image source: WildCare Bay Area/Facebook