Animal Of The Month
This story appears as an on-going series in the "Gilroy Dispatch", "Morgan Hill Times" and "Hollister Freelance".
Opossum: Uno
September, 2015
By Colleen Grzan
Opossum: Uno
September, 2015
By Colleen Grzan
W.E.R.C.'s newest Educational Ambassador, a Virginia Opossum named "Uno".
Back-to-School Special: Welcome Uno, the Wildlife Education and Rehabilitation Center’s new educational opossum! He originally arrived at the Wildlife Center of Silicon Valley on the 4th of July, a tiny pink baby weighing only 30 grams (the weight of 4 grapes). He was a healthy critter but because he is both leucistic (a lack of pigmentation, resulting in white hair, feathers, or scales) and is missing his right eye—hence his name—it was determined that he would only have a slight chance of surviving in the wild and thus is not releasable. His coloration would make him stand out to predators and his diminished vision would reduce his ability to avoid those predators. That’s two strikes against him. Fortunately, he was deemed suitable for placement and on July 31, he was transferred to WERC for evaluation where he has proved to be sweet-tempered, curious, and with a healthy appetite. With the approval of the California Dept. of Fish and Wildlife, Uno has now joined WERC’s team of animal ambassadors.
Uno will be delighting schoolchildren when he comes to visit their classrooms during WERC's Feather, Fur, and Scales programs. WERC’s team of non-releasable, educational animals includes Horus (peregrine falcon), Owlivia (western screech owl), Wapeka (red-tailed hawk), Luna (great horned owl), Clarabelle (acorn woodpecker), Ariel (merlin falcon), Barnadette (barn owl), Zorro (turkey vulture), Wally (pygmy owl), Lazarus (gopher snake), and of course, Uno. WERC’s unique educational outreach programs inspire and educate children (and adults) about nature, wildlife and the environment and provide an up-close look at some of our local native animals. These programs meet many and/or all of California’s Life Science Standards for grades K-6. For more information on WERC’s classroom programs, visit www.werc-ca.org.
Virginia opossums are North America’s only marsupial (animals whose females have pouches to carry their babies). They are solitary, very rarely aggressive, and will not attack your pets if left alone. If hissing and baring their teeth (50—the most of any mammal) doesn’t scare away a predator (dogs, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, bobcats, eagles, hawks, owls, and humans) they will “play sick” by drooling and defecating; if that doesn’t work, they will “play dead”.
Uno thrives on a diet of mice, quail, fresh fruit and other natural foods. Wild opossums survive on a similar omnivorous diet of slugs, insects such as roaches and beetles, frogs, snakes (they are resistant to venom), small rodents, fruits and berries, and carrion, aka road kill. You could call them night-time sanitation engineers. In other words, they are a real benefit to us—environmental clean-up at no cost to the taxpayers!
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Come meet Uno and his fellow animal ambassadors at Wildlife Fest!, WERC’s 20th annual BBQ-Auction fundraiser on Saturday, October 17th. Enjoy BBQ with all the trimmings, unique live and silent auction items, and fun activities for all. Have a fantastic time while helping our wildlife stay healthy and wild! Go to www.werc-ca.org for more details.
Uno will be delighting schoolchildren when he comes to visit their classrooms during WERC's Feather, Fur, and Scales programs. WERC’s team of non-releasable, educational animals includes Horus (peregrine falcon), Owlivia (western screech owl), Wapeka (red-tailed hawk), Luna (great horned owl), Clarabelle (acorn woodpecker), Ariel (merlin falcon), Barnadette (barn owl), Zorro (turkey vulture), Wally (pygmy owl), Lazarus (gopher snake), and of course, Uno. WERC’s unique educational outreach programs inspire and educate children (and adults) about nature, wildlife and the environment and provide an up-close look at some of our local native animals. These programs meet many and/or all of California’s Life Science Standards for grades K-6. For more information on WERC’s classroom programs, visit www.werc-ca.org.
Virginia opossums are North America’s only marsupial (animals whose females have pouches to carry their babies). They are solitary, very rarely aggressive, and will not attack your pets if left alone. If hissing and baring their teeth (50—the most of any mammal) doesn’t scare away a predator (dogs, coyotes, foxes, raccoons, bobcats, eagles, hawks, owls, and humans) they will “play sick” by drooling and defecating; if that doesn’t work, they will “play dead”.
Uno thrives on a diet of mice, quail, fresh fruit and other natural foods. Wild opossums survive on a similar omnivorous diet of slugs, insects such as roaches and beetles, frogs, snakes (they are resistant to venom), small rodents, fruits and berries, and carrion, aka road kill. You could call them night-time sanitation engineers. In other words, they are a real benefit to us—environmental clean-up at no cost to the taxpayers!
*********************************************************
Come meet Uno and his fellow animal ambassadors at Wildlife Fest!, WERC’s 20th annual BBQ-Auction fundraiser on Saturday, October 17th. Enjoy BBQ with all the trimmings, unique live and silent auction items, and fun activities for all. Have a fantastic time while helping our wildlife stay healthy and wild! Go to www.werc-ca.org for more details.