Aussie possums are cuter but in a lot of ways, similar in behaviour. It sounds like the noises they make are similar.
Ours will beat up a domestic cat and will snarl and fight, but only if cornered. Usually they will leave if they aren't happy with things. I've rarely been bitten, usually only when my hand was mistaken for food. Even wild possums which are allowing themselves to be hand-fed, have not bitten me except twice, when I was mistaken for food. I've picked up a wild, injured possum from the road and was not bitten (although I did take some precautions).
Aussie possums don't play dead. And they can move fast, either running on the ground or climbing. When mating or when scared or even when excited by food (such as when I put out a rotten mango for them to finish off) they make the same sort of noises - really terrifying, if you don't know what it is!
And in recent weeks, we've discovered our town has a new native denizen in bulk - Flying Foxes! Their noises are like a combination of Rainbow Lorikeet and angry possum... but when they fly they sound like someone flapping an umbrella to dry it. Flying Foxes are placentals, so they can carry rabies. We don't have rabies in Australis but we do have Lyssa Virus and Hendra Virus. Research ito those diseases is in early days but understanding so far is that bats seem to be either a vector or a primary host. And you don't need to be bitten. Hendra seems to need to pass through a horse for it to infect humans. It mostly kills (human and horse). Not much treatment as yet. But cases are rare, we've only had about half a dozen so far.
If you ever get the chance to look at a possum skull, you will find that your opossum as well as our Aussie possums are both equipped with diprotodont dentition. So are wombats, koalas and roos. It's those bottom teeth that are angled out like chisels. About 20,000 years ago we had giant wombats, giant roos and killer possums (also giant) roaming Australia. They were also equipped with the same sort of teeth. In fact, the giant wombat was named for it - Diprotodon. The killer possum was called Thylacoleo, more commonly called Marsupial Lion, although it lived in trees and dropped onto its prey. If you ever see a skull of one of those, it's scary. Not just the front teeth, but the side ones- they were in a long shear-like form that worked like secoteurs, in what were perhaps among the most powerful jaws of any mammal ever.
But if you avoid trapping a possum in a corner, make sure it can see an escape route, chances are it will choose retreat rather than attack and will give you nothing more than a bad fright.
I'll have to check size - our biggest possum is the bobuck, it's bigger than the biggest domestic cat I've ever seen. Maybe about as big. Very heavy, very dark-furred. I think what got sent to NZ to establish a fur trade, were bobucks. Big mistake.
Marg
