I had no idea.

They are the Oppossite of one another

O

They’re two completely different species. The one with the O is North American, and the other is Australian. They only got the same name because people are lazy.

opossum: The American one.

possum: Could refer to either kind of animal.

Failing to acknowledge that it's like that in reality will only cause further confusion.

Wow. The one is in black and white, the other in color.

Yea, seems like the distinction is a scientific one, not a language one.

Still interesting, I had no idea.

possum: Could refer to either kind of animal.

Yeah, in the US calling an opossum a 'possum' is just the shortened slang name and everyone know what you are talking about.

"course fur"

Before AI I could just chalk it up to an intern writer or something. Now I don't know.

I like to think they're saying 'possum so there's no confusion when written

One is Irish.

One has a Japanese honorific prefix and the other does not.

Not happy with all the anti-possum ads on that page. Opossums are beneficial good creatures, just leave em be.

I read the tick eating thing is an urban legend.

I think that the tick thing has ended up being a myth. There's this link I found real quick but I don't remember where I saw it originally.

Until right now I thought they were just different spellings of a word that meant the same thing. Like “color” and “colour”.

Chalk it up to the American education system

I just shared some stuff on this tick business today, including some analysis of the erroneous study that started the whole misconception.

Opossums are still awesome, they just aren't tick munchers.

went ahead and just deleted my original comment. i got 3 people commenting about it so I'll just say I think they're neat.

I hope you didn't take it personally! 😮

I just want people to be informed. My story and moreso the linked article I added talks about some of the issues that even positive seeming misinformation can lead to.

all good. i got 3 comments all at once so I just figured it was for the best.

it would have been wise to label which one is which?

(left one is opossum, right one is possum)

okay

they are closely related, both being marsupials. i just read it up on wikipedia

possums were introduced after the invention of the 3-channel RGB system.

comment has been removed. apologies.

Heck, even I didn't know it was false until I found the post! I'm surprised I saw a couple others mention it. The rumor is really widespread.

We feed ours dried mealworms as part of their diet, so I just assumed they eat whatever bugs.

Herr's a handy video to explain the difference. Too bad I can never remember anything said.

They are. You are correct

Gold star

i now know that they don't eat many ticks, I was just excited cause I love opposums and I think they get a fairly bad reputation for being "vermin".

i didn't realize an article about them not eating ticks was posted today. i don't think I'm on the instance that shared that.

i guess that's why all the comments focused on the ticks thing.

i just think they're neat.

They absolutely are, in that the species from America got shortened from "opossum" to "possum" (with both versions still in use), and then the similar-looking Australasian animals were given the same abbreviated name.

Their poo is out of this world stinky, but otherwise they are very awesome.

I was trying to stick them in a bucket to clean their pen, but they kept grabbing on to the lip with their tails. It was hilarious. I like watching them climb also. They look like they should be bad at it, but they're pretty good.

Awesome critters and no reason anyone should dislike them!

This article is not a good source.

1. Possums are not native to China or new Zealand. Australia is correct but they can also be native to New Guinea and parts of Indonesia.
2. Certain species of possums like the ringtail can have partially hairless tails.
3. When comparing to Australia's most common possum (Brushtail, max 4.5kg), the Virginia opossum is bulkier but has roughly the same body length. The largest possum (Bear Cuscus is nearly twice as big)
4. Sources vary but it's clear there are significantly more opossum species than possum species.Possums species are much more distinct though.

The main difference is that people commonly refer to opossums as possums, but rarely the other way 'round.

No, they're saying "a possum"

Opassan

They’re practically harmless. Scary as shit if you have one get stuck in you shed, but they do more good than armadillos.

Found the possum person

possums are native to Australia, New Zealand, and China.

God DAMN they must be good swimmers

Edit: Occam's razor. The article is misinformation, and they're just native in Australia

That's fur from school, duh

Can someone add a banana for size? Because I think one is much bigger than the other

Wow. The one is in black and white, the other in color sepia.

hope this helps