Why Kentucky’s State Animal Should Be A Possum

I'm not sure who makes the decisions to appoint certain things state symbols, but I have a case to be made. I remember learning in 4th grade that Kentucky's state bird is the cardinal, the state flower is Goldenrod, and being famous for horses and horse racing, our official state horse is the Thoroughbred. But the bluegrass state also has an official state animal. It's the Eastern Gray Squirrel.

Now, no offense to squirrels, but there is a much cooler animal that should have that distinction. The possum! Even though some folks are scared of them, my mother included, they are really interesting critters! Here are some things you may not know about them and why they should be given an important role as our official state animal.

Possums May Not Win a Beauty Contest, But They Sure Are Unique!

The people who think possums are icky, look at them and see the beady eyes, tiny pointy teeth, and naked semi-prehensile rope tail and think they're too similar to nasty rats. But I personally think they are adorable! Usually about the size of a house cat, possums are omnivores.

Using those little teeth to gnaw through berries, insects, and vegetation while also controlling the snake and mice population with their diet. Thanks possums!

Those little eyes aren't great at seeing, but their noses work extremely well! They're also nocturnal. Spunky and sassy, but typically never aggressive when encountering humans. In fact, their first instinct is terror. Instead of fighting, they will just freeze and pretend to be dead so whatever they are scared of won't mess with them. When they "die" they can stay in that state for up to 6 hours. Sometimes they will hiss and snarl too. They could give you a big ole thumbs up with their opposable back thumb though!

Here is a compilation of possums being cute and funny!

Marsupial Possum Mamas

Male possums are known as "Joeys" while females are called "Jills." They are the only marsupials north of Mexico meaning their newborns develop in their mamas pouches. Only about the size of a honeybee, they grow up clinging to their mom's back if they aren't tucked away. Female possums have 12 nipples that are arranged in a circle so the babies can round up for meals inside the pouch.

Possums Vs. Snakes

Possums just so happen to be immune to snake venom. Scientists have been studying how to replicate this for anti-venoms in parts of the world where death by snake bite is common.

"Fundamental discoveries behind the findings were made nearly 20 years ago by a researcher named Binie V. Lipps. Opposums have an innate immunity to a variety of snake venoms. Lipps isolated the protein responsible for this immunity and found that peptides containing its first 10 or 15 amino acids seemed to contain all of the protein’s antivenomous properties. She first patented the work in 1996."

Even though they may do gross and annoying things like scrounge in the garbage for food, or sneak into garages to explore or set up a hiding place, at least they don't carry or spread rabies. Their body temperatures stay too low for that nastiness to survive in their bodies. I think because of their appearance, people assume they carry diseases, but that just is not typically true.

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Possum Gear

Artists and shirt makers have designed some pretty awesome possum and kentucky related gear. Like this shirt from Kentucky for Kentucky! Designed by Rachel Sinclair.

Or this one by artist Nathan Pyle. He drew each state as something he thought represented the state and...Kentucky is a possum!

They even have their own festival in Cumberland Kentucky!

I rest my case! Do you have any fun possum stories or reasons why you think they are cool?

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