Lol, I'm guessing you've seen where I'm from, Netty. Good try but wombats don't climb trees. This was a possum in a Ficus elastica, Rubber Tree. I see a lot of these little fellas in trees here.
I was going to guess possum. They are abundant here in Tennessee. Unfortunately, we see them by the side of the road all the time, having been run over as they were trying to cross. They're everywhere!
We have them here and they are always digging around in my flower beds. Wish they'd go play in the road! :-D
David, your 'possums are cuter than my 'possums. We had one that lived in the barn and dug around in the sandy soil where pigs had been kept. Unfortunately, he tried to cross the road one night.
That guy doesn't look like the ugly possums we have here. The ones here have a pointed noses, and look very much like giant rats. This guy is much cuter (?)
They must be different from ours in the US cause ours are really ugly. We trap them and relocate them gently. I do not like ours even when babies....yours is very cute.
Yes, your possums are a lot more attractive than the ones I saw in Texas! Truly ugly critters. I haven't seen any since we moved to the mountains in Idaho. They must not like the cold.
The possums in my yard are very pretty, they are silvery gray with pointy noses- Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana). Granted they are much cuter when they are small, the adults look like 10 miles of bad road after a hard night at the bar ( photo / image / picture from toni's Garden ) I have caught several of them over the last few years while trapping all the feral cats in our neighborhood. The city takes them to be released out by the Trinity River not far from their animal shelter.
I read somewhere they were originally named because of their apparent similarity to opossums, however it was later discovered they aren't related. Isn't that the story with so many trees! I can think of plenty that have a common name in one genus from which they've been moved. Cocos and Poinciana come to mind, as well as an Acacia no longer in the genus.
I love our possums ! I had one that lived under our storage shed once. His name was Pete the possum, had a cats to catch mice,,went out after dark one night to feed the cats,,could barely see but I counted one extra. Turned on the porch light and it was Pete the possum waiting with the cats for dinner. Raised two baby possums whose mother got run over. They are really sweet little animals.
Ours were named after yours because of their similar looks but it turned out they are completely different animals, Ronni. We can hand-feed our cute little possums bread and jam. In fact, they kind of expect it sometimes. I imagine you wouldn't be doing that with the teeth yours have.
