Opossums are my favorite animal. They’re so cute!
Inside a goose’s mouth.
That’s all I have to say on the matter.
Cobra chicken
nothing says “you looking for trouble mf?” better than red bordered eyes and a tongue filled with tiny razors
Geese saved Rome!
(Of course, having the city infested with geese instead of Gauls might not have been a particularly preferable outcome for its citizens, but at least they were already used to the geese, inasmuch as one can get used to geese.)
Squirrels aren’t just good climbers, squirrels are professional circus performers who are constantly putting on free shows for everybody.
Squirrels are hilarious, they don’t get enough credit.
My neighborhood squirrel hung upsidedown on our bird feeder holding the top with his feet while he ninja’d seeds out of the feeder. I was more impressed than anything.
I bet he drinks Carling Black Label.
Geese are uh well…geese
Owls are very wise geese.
Tbh that’s not wrong
Does that mean geese are very reckless owls?
This guy gooses owls.
As the local “weird possum girl”, they are very intelligent! They shouldn’t be!
See, opossum have smooth brains. This isn’t normally linked to a high intelligence. Yet, they can remember if a food is toxic for up to two weeks after ingesting it, can learn and remember how to operate different sliding locks, and can solve simple puzzles with the right motivation(food)!
They can also form bonds, remembering people they like and dislike. Which is kinda funny to think about, because their babies spend a period of time riding around on moms back before they’re big enough to waddle off on their own. If one falls off, she may very well trundle off, leaving the little one behind, who may hitch a ride on a totally different jill that happens to walk by.
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I wish having possums wasn’t illegal without a very burocratic license in my country (Brazil). My ex once found a trio of babies, after the mother was run over by a car, I wish she’d kept one. She gave them to the environmental police
This gal possums.
Two weeks doesn’t seem like all that long before forgetting that some food was toxic lol
Tell that to lactose intolerant people who love cheese. -from the very same.
Yeah and that part about losing babies and walking off unawares doesn’t seem so bright either
It surprisingly is at their overall brain capacity. They’re intelligent relative to their brain mass.
goodness how i wish there was a weird possum girl in my locality
i would buy her lunch
not to eat with her as some creepy implied commitment to a date but because free food is an appropriate gift for opossum enthusiasts and I am just as happy for her to enjoy it without me if she so chooses.
(but to be fair i would prefer if she’d join me so i can listen to her talk about opossum facts)
I’d recommend something besides lunch for that, or at least have a strong stomach.
You’ll eventually hit the gross facts, and the little guys can get gross. Still absolutely adorable scavengers who play a key part in the decay cycle, but gross.
I’ve a strong stomach, and insatiable curiosity.
What kind of gross? Like rabbits eating their own first-pass poo?
(My RN mother used to watch graphic surgical shows during dinner so almost nothing really bothers me…. Except spelunkers getting stuck in caves. Holy fuck does that bother me and I’ll never be in a cave, so very illogical phobia)
It’s not just the first pass for a possum. It’s every pass, as it may still carry excess nutrients they now need. They do it from a very young age.
They have a cloyingly sweet feces that stays on whatever fabric you’re wearing while handling poop dishes in rehabs. They prefer moving water, but any water will do. I cannot put the smell into words. It’s burned into your nostrils for hours after.
Cannibalism isn’t uncommon amongst the species, but we have no clue why. They just randomly decide to eat each other.
No Biomass Left Behind!!! XD
Sounds like opossums will eat anything there is (or might be) nutrition in…
So wait, they poop in water? Like specifically?
Or am I misunderstanding, and the reason the water movement matters is that they eat shit then drink water? Or something else entirely?
Do they often get disease from consuming their poo? Since they scavenge and all, I assume they probably have decent immune systems, but fecal-oral is a super common disease transmission path.
Water specifically. It helps mask the smell, and it’s a frequent spot for one of their favorite foods, frogs. They also fish whatever is left in the water, if any. A lot gets caught on their tails, which frequently dip into the water.
Surprisingly, they’re extremely clean creatures, even with their dietary habits! They rarely carry any known passable diseases, even rabies! In fact, the biggest issue to look for is Metabolic Bone Disorder, or MBD, which is a sign of low calcium, and causes twisting of the bone structure, often leading to death. There is no cure, just slowing the spread.
Interesting, thanks for sharing that with me (and everyone else, I suppose). :)
Have a great day!
I found the best way to walk through a crowd of geese is to avoid eye contact at all costs. Pretend it’s an empty field and you’ll most likely be safe.
It’s like an extreme sport but without the price tag. Although I would not walk through a crowd of geese if babies are present, no matter how cute, fluffy and snuggly they look.
My favorite game is Untitled Goose Game.
The title of that game is a paradoxical lie.
It’s kinda accurate because it wasn’t officially named when introduced, they just used that label planning to give it a real name but then everybody thought it would be hilarious to keep “untitled goose game” so they stuck with it
No way. Maybe I should play it then. I thought it was a joke game that would only be fun for a few minutes.
You will love it. I play with my wife and kids and it’s a hoot.
Nothing comes close to making my children laugh as much as that game. I love when they play it.
Absolutely, my daughter had sore abs from laughing so hard. Such a cute game.
My 5 year old loves playing with me. The couch coop is insanely fun.
Ravens make this gurgling throw up noise which is pretty cool
They also form symbiotic relations with wolf packs for hunting, even forming bonds with pups by playing with them.
No wonder theyre associated with Odin, smart, tricksy, assholes, likes wolves.
Geese are evil flying snakes. They’ll even hiss at you.
Angry noodle necks.
Oppossoms are better than merely smart. They eat HELLA PEST INSECTS!
now, Geese…
Geese are fiercely protective of their families and flocks and are amazing at guarding territory; they cannot be bribed or ingratiated. In brazil, a prison has provided a habitat for geese around the facility between the inner fence and the outer wall which has been surprisingly effective at discouraged escape attempts.
I used to work at a MSFT facility whose parking garage was built in a reconfigured wetlands.
The geese would just hang out in the parking garage. They would not move for cars, people, anything, and would attack you as you walk by them.
To my knowledge, a decade later, this problem still exists.
and are amazing at guarding territory
Can’t be bribed? What if you could get a clutch of goose eggs to imprint on you? Then you’d be part of the family and invincible with your goose army! You could go goose-stepping across the continent!
Let’s make a deal:
You go ahead and try to get close enough to a clutch of goose eggs that you can incubate them to hatching;
I’ll point and laugh as their parents and all the other geese in the entire flock swarm you in a solid frenzied wall of honking, hissing, biting, bludgeoning, implacable white-hot incandescent fury.
You are proposing to fuck with a force of nature, my friend. I can’t stop you. But they can. X3
Since they’re just outside your home, you make a hole in the wall and build a nest box inside it. Eggs get laid in there. When hatching day nears, you toss food over the wall to tempt mom off the nest for a minute. As soon as she steps away, you slam down a portcullis and take over childcare on your side of the wall. Later you and your goose tribe raise the portcullis and march forth together.
Of course, it could fail disastrously.
You ever do a desk pop?
I get the reference but it is odd that you connected this to that.
How is it odd? They’re having a tuna vs lion debate.
I know you posted jokingly, but I can’t help myself.
Geese lay their eggs in fairly open spots on the ground, typically near water (often barely out of the water in my experience), not really ever in nest boxes (I’ve never heard of them using a covered/enclosed space for nesting, and we have tons of them around here). They want a clear view of their surroundings, and ready access to water for their hatchlings. The females incubate and the males stay near to guard the nest, because they like to be exposed, and are mean as hell as a direct result of their nesting behavior.
You’d be better off just buying fertile eggs and incubating them wholly independently, but they likely wouldn’t be accepted into the wild flock if they aren’t hatched by one of the flock, even if they are initially incubated by one. I mean I’m not super sure if geese “adopt” other goslings, as they are mostly self-sufficient within a few days, but if they do I doubt they would be fully strangers like they would be if you swipe them.
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The only other really cool one I’ve got is that occasionally (like it’s only been reported a handful of times sort of thing), they will use an abandoned nest in a tree. These are really big nests, like from bald eagles, so plenty of space for both parents (bald eagle nests are large enough to hold 3-5 human toddlers fairly comfortably).
Bald eagles typically nest along waterways as well, so overhanging nests are an interesting opportunity. I rather assume the goslings just jump out into the water, but I honestly don’t know if their tiny bodies would survive the fall onto regular ground. Probably would, they weigh almost nothing.
I mean I’m not super sure if geese “adopt” other goslings
Not sure how close duck behavior is to goose, but I watched a mama duck assault the ever-living fuck out of a duckling following her until it ran off cheeping furiously and hiding in a bush. I assume that it was part of another nearby clutch as there were a lot of ducks in the area, and she was having none of it.
why is squirrel spelled like a professor from Hogwarts?
Because they are Professors at Hogwarts.
geese nutz
Clever
Gottem
My owl friend has returned to my neighborhood and I can hear him hooting at night. I’ve never met, interacted with, or seen this friend, but I love him all the same.
I haven’t heard my owl friend yet this year. I hope he shows up.
Try leaving out some tootsie roll pops.
You might be able to draw it closer by finding a YouTube video of calls by the same species and playing it when your owl buddy is around