Opossum gathering leaves.

Opossums pick up leaves with their mouths and then pass them to the front feet, then to the back feet, and then to the tail. They carry the bundle of bedding around with their semi-prehensile tails!
This male is lining his bed inside a woodchuck burrow. We also saw a female entering the same burrow an hour later! He seems to be in charge of making the bed and she likes to sleep in (usually leaving later in the night than him.) We’re hoping for some baby opossums soon.
This is why we leave the leaves. Travel For Wildlife
I didn’t know they did this. There was a better video but I can’t find it.

1 comment

  1. DFW Urban Wildlife

    So, we know that opossums collect leaves and other materials to use for bedding in their dens. We also know that they carry all this material back to their den site wrapped up tight in their prehensile tails. But who knew that getting all that stuff back to the tail was a five-step process!?!
    1) Find suitable leaf
    2) Pickup leaf in mouth
    3) Pass the leaf to a front paw
    4) Pass the leaf to a back paw
    5) Stuff the leaf in the tail bundle
    Thanks to Chuck Williamson for the share!

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