[MAIPC] FW: wildlife hero in the fight against ticks,

Tue Jun 20 04:40:34 PDT 2017

I would like to share this information because one of our threats to invasive species control is folks not appreciating and protecting nature because of fear of ticks and Lyme disease, even more than being in cyberspace all the time. Marc

From: Kent Hibben [mailto:kentlhibben at gmail.com] 
Sent: Sunday, June 18, 2017 7:25 AM
To: Marc Imlay <ialm at erols.com <mailto:ialm at erols.com> >
Subject: Re: wildlife hero in the fight against ticks,

Hello Marc

I quite appreciate your posts.  The NWF article discusses possums using ready-made burrows.  Are there (s.a. with bat houses) particular actions humans can do to build or enable such burrows to be available?

Cheers,

Kent

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OPOSSUMS: UNSUNG HEROES IN THE FIGHT AGAINST TICKS AND LYME DISEASE

 <http://blog.nwf.org/authors/jane-kirchner/> JANE KIRCHNER   |    <http://blog.nwf.org/2017/06/> JUNE 13, 2017

Young opossums sometimes ride on their mother’s back as she hunts for food. Photo credit: MonicaR./flickr

With the huge rise in deer tick populations and the spread of Lyme disease, many friends of wildlife are welcoming opossums into their yards. Why? Scientists have learned that  <http://www.caryinstitute.org/discover-ecology/podcasts/why-you-should-brake-possums> opossums act like little <http://www.caryinstitute.org/discover-ecology/podcasts/why-you-should-brake-possums>  vacuum cleaners when it comes to ticks – with a single opossum hoovering up and killing as many as 4,000 ticks per week.

Opossums are extraordinarily good groomers it turns out – we never would have thought that ahead of time – but they kill the vast majority – more than 95% percent of the ticks that try to feed on them. So these opossums are walking around the forest floor, hoovering up ticks right and left, killing over 90% of these things, and so they are really protecting our health. – Rick Ostfeld, Senior Scientist, Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies

MORE POSSUM BENEFITS

Opossums, sometimes referred to just as possums, are a benefit to ecosystems and a healthy environment beyond eradicating ticks.  They will catch and eat cockroaches, rats and mice – in addition to consuming dead animals of all types (also known as carrion).  <http://blog.nwf.org/2014/07/opossums-and-gardening-a-few-things-to-know/> Gardeners appreciate opossums’ appetite for snails, slugs and for cleaning up over-ripe fruit and berries. And, since they are immune to the venom of poisonous serpents, opossums also eat rattlesnakes.

EVENING SHIFT

Adult opossums are solitary and nocturnal—active at night—and generally live in burrows and cavities that they find ready-made rather than create themselves. They seek shelter underground, in trees or anywhere in between.

Young opossum out at night. Photo credit: Amy/flickr

Young opossum “freezing” when frightened. Photo credit: Amy/flickr

When frightened or harmed, opossums suddenly freeze and lie still as death. They have no control over this response, which could be said to paralyze them with fear or have evolved because almost any predator can outrun them. If left unharmed, a catatonic opossum will recover in roughly one to four hours.

This amazing species is North America’s only marsupial (pouched mammal).  When the so-called Great American Interchange occurred with the closing of Central America around 3 million years ago, the opossum was pretty much the only marsupial from South America that successfully moved to and survived in the north.

Here at the National Wildlife Federation we celebrate and appreciate the opossum!

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With the rise in deer tick populations and the spread of Lyme disease, friends of wildlife are welcoming opossums into their yards.

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