I’ve never heard of black squirrels either, but I grew up hunting grey squirrels and still do. Incidentally, from pictures I’ve seen and from nature shows on TV, what they call a possum in New Zealand is not the same animal we call a possum over here. I assume the possum in Australia is the same critter found in New Zealand.
New Zealand possums were introduced by Europeans from Australia, and have become a pest over there. The bad side is that these possums in New Zealand eat the native birds eggs. The good side, if you see it that way, is that hunting and trapping possums for their fur has given some residents an alternative income.
Le Loup, as I said, a different animal. Whether or not they may be related I have no idea. Our possum, properly called opossum, is a marsupial; the only one we have. It is not considered a fur bearer. It looks like nothing more than over grown rat. The tail is hairless, or nearly so, and is prehensile. Some people consider them to be good eating, but I’ve never tried one myself.
ReplyDeleteOver here, the American possum is sometimes eaten. Has anyone tried the Australian variety?
ReplyDeleteI have not eaten Possum, mostly because they are protected and I have no need to, but I would think they ate plenty in New Zealand. I remember reading an article on jobless youths living in the bush hunting possums for the furs. One would assume they ate possum, I would.
ReplyDeleteI have always thought, knowing their eating habits, that the possum here fills the same nich as the Racoon does in the States.
Keith.