Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana) walk with a bumbling gait and have poor eyesight and hearing so when they finally notice danger it’s very close at hand. They’ve evolved a pretty good solution to protect themselves. Possums fall over and play dead.
Playing dead is triggered by extreme fear and it’s involuntary — like fainting. The possum enters a near coma, lying on its side with its mouth and eyes open and tongue hanging out. Meanwhile it exudes a putrid green fluid from its anus that’s unappetizing to predators.
The possum in this video was probably shocked when the big black dog showed up. Boom! He fell over.
But how to remove him?
Wait and he’ll wake up and walk away. Put the dog indoors and he’ll do it sooner.
He’s not dead. He’s just resting.
Being nocturnal, we all have seen opossums as road kills in our morning drive to work. Playing dead on the highway as a response to on-coming headlights, not good.
Oh, for godsakes. Why did she kick him down the steps?
Poor baby!!! Can’t imagine why a person would be so cruel!!
She probably had no experience with them and thought it was dead. Notice that her friend who knows all about it is filming — not handling it.
About 0:45 into the video, the little girl in the background says, “He’s playing dead.” Too bad the adults didn’t pay attention.
She never heard the expression “playing ‘possum”?
Probably doesn’t know what playing possum means. In the beginning of the video she says it could be a rat. Her friend with the camera says no. As I said earlier, among the people on the scene the person who knew the least about it was sent to deal with it.