# 118 - Nobody Loves the Possum. Here’s Why They Should.

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Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/buzz-blossom-squeak-6817827/118-nobody-loves-the-possum-here-s-why-they-should.md
Podcast: [Buzz Blossom & Squeak — Be a Neighborhood Naturalist](https://stenobird.com/podcast/buzz-blossom-squeak-6817827)
Published: 2026-06-18T19:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://buzzblossomandsqueak.com/episode/118-nobody-loves-the-possum-heres-why-they-should
Audio file: https://episodes.captivate.fm/episode/2deaf947-f7e6-46c4-b705-c87343ed0f2b.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/buzz-blossom-squeak-6817827/episodes/118-nobody-loves-the-possum-here-s-why-they-should
Duration seconds: 1111

## Resource

Nobody loves the possum. That’s kind of the point. The hissing, the drooling, the naked scaly tail, the teeth — all fifty of them — and the dramatic habit of passing out and smelling like death when startled. None of this is doing the possum any favors in the public opinion department. But here’s what most people don’t know: that possumwandering through your backyard at night may be one of the best things for your family’s health that you’re never going to think to thank. I’m making the case for the possum today. Stick with me. Opossum or possum — and what’s the difference? The animal in the United States is the Virginia opossum, written with an O, but spoken without it. Americans dropped the silent O sometime after the word was recorded from the Algonquin language around 1600. The possums in Australia — the common brushtail possum — are a related marsupial but a different animal entirely. Both usages are considered acceptable in everyday conversation, which makes me feel better about the fact that I’ve been saying it wrong my whole life. North America’s only marsupial Yes, really. Right here in the Northwoods, waddling through the leaf litter at night, is our very own pouched mammal. Their ancestors migrated up through South America at some point and have been here for a very long time — long enough to be a genuinely tropical creature that has slowly pushed northward and now has to contend with Wisconsin winters on a body designed for warmer climates. Their ears and tail tips are prone to frostbite. January is a hard month to be a possum. The tick vacuum in your backyard This is the part worth remembering. Researchers at the Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies spent years testing which animals were most effective at killing the black-legged ticks that spread Lyme dise…

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