O-Possum, My Possum

Winter is in full swing and Loki visits the coop.  What does Loki discover on his journey up to see Kitten & Clucky?  Is it the mysterious Rat Kangaroo?  

New words and phrases in this episode: 

• Possum
• Playing Possum
• Opossum
• Nomatic
• Marsupial
• defense mechanism
• Socially awkward

After Listening Can you answer these questions?

• What does playing possum mean?
• Can opossums carry rabies? 
• Does our opossum have a name?  
• What is a defense mechanism? 
• What does an opossum eat? 

Themes: 

• Friendship
• Things are not always as them seem
• Be yourself
• Strength in numbers
• Explore the world around you

New Screen-Free Resources available at www.kittenandclucky.com 

Transcript

Season 4 Episode 7

O-Possum, My Possum 

CLUCKY: Hey Kitten, how are you liking the fresh snow? 

KITTEN: Oh Clucky, you know I’m not a big fan of snow. At least it’s not super cold.

LOKI: I am lovvving the snow!!! It’s awesome!!!

CLUCKY: Landsakes Loki, how is it that you scare the feathers off of me every time you show up? 

LOKI: I don’t see any feathers lost there Clucky! I like to pounce and dive into snow though. Just look at it all!! It’s fantastic.

KITTEN: Speak for yourself Loki. It’s cold, wet and miserable. 

LOKI: Oh but it’s soooo much better than rain! It’s like a dry wet, know what I mean?

KITTEN: I didn’t think about it like that. 

CLUCKY: Dry wet… I like that. It’s harder to find stuff to eat with this fluffy white blanket though. 

LOKI: Speaking of finding stuff, there’s a giant dead rat in your yard. 

CLUCKY: WHAT??? 

LOKI: Yeah, as I was coming down to see you, I walked past it. It’s huge! It’s probably bigger than Kitten!

KITTEN: A rat bigger than me? Yikes!! 

CLUCKY: Let’s go check it out! Ladies!! Oh Ladies, we’re heading over to the yard closer to the house. Loki said he found a giant dead rat that’s bigger than Kitten.

BIRGITA: Oh that sounds scary! They like to grow things big here in Washington!

BRIDGET: I don’t think they have rats that big here. I haven’t seen a rat at all while we’ve been living here.

BELLA: I’m not sure I want to go. Maybe I’ll just stay down here by the coop.

CLUCKY: Safety in numbers Bella! You’d be all alone here! 

BELLA: <SIGH> I guess you’re right CLUCKY. I’ll stay towards the back though.

CLUCKY: Lead the way LOKI!

LOKI: OK, follow me!

SFX - animals walking through the snow

LOKI: It was right around here…. Huh, I thought it was a bit further up but I see it now, just lying down in the snow there.

CLUCKY: OH wow! It is big. Even from this distance it looks bigger than Kitten. 

KITTEN: That’s not a rat. 

BRIGITA: But look, it’s got a rat tail.

KITTEN: I think it’s an opossum

CLUCKY: A what em?

KITTEN: O- POSSUM

CLUCKY: OH Possum? Are you not sure? Could it be a U-POSSUM?

KITTEN: Clucky, an Opossum. It’s the only marsupial found north of Mexico. 

CLUCKY: More soup y’all. Kitten, are you hungry for soup? That thing does not look like a type of soup.

BRIDGET: Marsupial - a type of mammal known to carry their young in a pouch like a kangaroo, predominantly found in Australia.

CLUCKY: OH wow, could this be a rat kangaroo? Y’know half kangaroo and half rat? It’s got the rat part down, wonder if it has a pouch?

KITTEN: Clucky I thought we established that rat kangaroos are only found in Australia.

CLUCKY: Well, maybe we had one and now it’s died. 

BIRGITA: Oh the poor possum! Perhaps it died from the cold and snow. It’s probably not used to temperatures like this if it’s from Australia. Isn’t it really hot there?

KITTEN: Yes, it is and it is opossum not a possum

CLUCKY: Could it be an E-possum? Or perhaps there’s a whole family of vowel possums A Possum, E-Possum, I-Possum, O-Possum and U-Possum!! Hey Kitten I was right! U-Possum!

KITTEN: Clever Clucky, but no. There are Opossums and just possums. 

LOKI: What’s the difference? Other than the O. Although the E-possum could be an electronic possum and the I-Possum could be made by apple. 

KITTEN: Sigh, it is no wonder you and Clucky get along so well. Opossums are found in North America. They are actually called Virginia Opossums. Possums are found in Australia. No electronic opossums made by apple or not. 

CLUCKY: Then shouldn’t they be called V-Possums?

KITTEN: Well, although they are both marsupials, they do have other differences. They look quite different. The Opossum can be 2-3 feet long including the tail. The possum is much smaller and typically only has one young whereas the opossum can have litters up to 25!

BELLA: My goodness that is a lot of babies!

KITTEN: And the opossum cannot carry rabies.

CLUCKY: Didn’t you say that they carry lots of babies? 

KITTEN: Rabies, with an R. It is a virus that many wild animals can carry and then infect others. Loki and I are vaccinated so we cannot get it. Many livestock like horses, cows and sheep also get the vaccinations. However, opossums have a really low body temperature so the virus cannot survive in their bodies. 

BRIDGET: Remember your dead opossum?

LOKI: Yeah…. What about it?

BRIDGET: It’s not so dead anymore. It just got up and is walking away.

Big commotion:

BIRGITA: What?

CLUCKY: ARGH!!

LOKI: Aroooo!!!

BELLA: Oh no! 

KITTEN: OHHH!!!

CLUCKY: Is it a zombie opossum now? It’d be a Z-Possum.

LOKI: Ooooh zombie opossums! That would be cool. I’ll go check it out. 

CLUCKY: You think it’s safe? What if he eats your brain?

LOKI: I’m not too worried about it. I’m really fast. (SFX running away and in a distant voice “Hey Opossum! Wait up!”

OPOSSUM: ooooooh…..

LOKI: Oh hey there, don’t fall over again! Are you feeling light headed? Faint? Do you need brains to eat?

OPOSSUM: HUH?  Brains?

LOKI: yeah, aren’t you a zombie? You were just dead and now you’re alive and moving again. 

OPOSSUM: No, not a zombie. Just an opossum.

LOKI: Oh…. but weren’t you just dead? You looked pretty dead to me, to all of us actually.

OPOSSUM: OH. YEAH. UMM…. about that….

KITTEN: OH hello….

OPOSSUM: oooooooooooooooo…… 

LOKI:OH look you’re falling over again. Why do you keep doing that?

KITTEN: I think it’s an opossum thing. 

CLUCKY: Do you faint a lot?

OPOSSUM: Not exactly……who are all of you?

LOKI: I’m Loki. I’m a husky! 

CLUCKY: Sir Clucky of Kerrington now of Washington. 

KITTEN: I’m Kitten. And those hens coming now are BIRGITA.

BIRGITA: So she’s not a zombie!

KITTEN: Bridget

BRIDGET: Told you it wasn’t dead.

KITTEN: And Bella.

BELLA: <out of breath> hi…… you have an awful lot of teeth!

BIRGITA: Indeed. 

LOKI: Teeth or not watch this…. Every time I get closer…. <SFX paw stepping>

OPOSSUM: ooooooooooooo

BIRGITA: Oh my! Look at that! She’s starting to lean over? Is she alright?

LOKI: But when I step back, <SFX snow crunch> she looks fine again.  Forward…..

OPOSSUM: oooooooooo

CLUCKY: How does she lean so far to the side without actually falling over?

LOKI: And then back…..and she’s upright again! Kitten says it's an opossum thing.

KITTEN: It’s a defense mechanism for opossums. They pretend they’re dead when they think they’re in danger. Don’t worry, we won’t hurt you. We’re friendly.

OPOSSUM: Ok….. so you know my secret now. 

KITTEN: Well it is not exactly a secret. There is a saying about “playing possum” when one pretends to be dead. 

CLUCKY Song: 

You like to play dead

To mess with others heads

People scream in dread but you just like to play dead. 

OPOSSUM:  Oh No, please stop…(record Scratch)  I don’t like singing. 

CLUCKY: Fine. A musical interlude is not for everyone.  So, I've never heard about this before playing dead defence mechanism before! It seems a bit dangerous. Shouldn’t you try and run away from danger?

OPOSSUM: I’m not a fast runner. I can look scary to others though. Especially if I hiss and bare my teeth. <hiss>

CLUCKY: ARGH!! That is a scary face!

OPOSSUM: Aside from that, I can make myself look dead for a few minutes up to a few hours until the danger has passed. I can also release a nasty smell that makes predators think I’ve been dead for longer than I have, so they don’t want to eat me. I also climb trees or try to hide but we aren’t really aggressive. We try to keep to ourselves as we forage for food. 

BELLA: Do you have a name?

OPOSSUM: Hrm…. no?

KITTEN: You aren’t sure?

OPOSSUM: Umm…. well my mom sometimes called me Nine when i was younger but I’ve never had a name before. 

BRIDGET: How many brothers and sisters did you have? Kitten says opossums can have more than 20 babies at a time!

OPOSSUM: Yes, that’s true, but only 13 of us can survive. 

BELLA: 13? Always 13?

OPOSSUM: Well, never more than 13. We’re born after about 2 weeks and then make our way into our mother’s pouches where we nurse and stay for another couple of months before we ever come back out into the open. Mothers only have space to nurse 13 babies, so only the strongest survive. I have 11 brothers and sisters. Once we leave our mothers though, we’re on our own. We don’t really socialize with others except to have babies. I guess that’s why I don’t see why I’d need a name. 

LOKI: What about friends? Don’t you have friends?

OPOSSUM: No. We like to be alone and we travel a lot. Except when we have babies, we’re always moving. 

KITTEN: And is it true that you carry all of your babies around with you on your back?

OPOSSUM: Yes. It’s the easiest way to travel with that many young. Although when they’re still that small we don’t travel far.

KITTEN: Nomadic. 

CLUCKY: No magic? 

KITTEN: Nomadic Clucky. It means roaming about from place to place aimlessly, frequently or without a fixed pattern of movement. 

CLUCKY: I like being nomadic from time to time too. I am super nomadic when I look for worms! What do you like eating?

OPOSSUM: Everything.

CLUCKY: When you say everything….

OPOSSUM: I can’t think of anything I wouldn’t eat. 

BIRGITA: There’s plenty of things I wouldn’t eat!! 

OPOSSUMS: I eat lots of things most animals wouldn’t touch. I eat dead animals I find, frogs, rats, mice, insects, berries, seeds, garbage from humans. Pretty much everything and anything. 

LOKI: OH!! Wait, my human mom said that she loves opossums especially because you eat ticks!

OPOSSUMS: Yes, anytime I find a tick I usually eat it. They’re pretty tasty.

LOKI: My family finds 1-2 ticks on me everytime I go out for a walk. I probably have one on me now. They make such a big production of getting it off of me. 

OPOSSUMS: If there’s snow, you likely don’t have a tick on you. They are only active within a certain temperature range. It’s too cold right now. 

LOKI: good to know!!

OPOSSUM: I should be going now. 

CLUCKY: Where are you off to? 

OPOSSUM: I don’t know. But I don’t usually spend this much time with anyone. It feels strange. 

KITTEN: Well we’ve enjoyed talking to you!

BELLA: Yes, we’ve learned so much about opossums today! Your teeth make you look super scary but you’re very kind. 

BRIDGET: A bit socially awkward, but aren’t we all?

OPOSSUM: I wouldn’t know. I don’t think I’ve ever spoken to chickens before.

BIRGITA: Well you’re definitely the first opossum I’ve ever encountered. What an interesting day we’re having. 

OPOSSUM: goodbye then!

CLUCKY: Bye Nine! It was nice to meet you. I hope we see you again on your travels through here!

 LOKI: It would have been cool if you were a zombie, but I guess a playing dead opossum is pretty cool too! Hey if you like sunflower seeds, there’s usually a whole bunch that my humans leave out for the birds! We just live down the mountain a bit.

OPOSSUM: Thanks for the tip. 

LOKI: Thanks for eating the ticks!!