Opossum vs. possum — Chimare’s student essay

Opossum Vs. Possum

When it comes to a pest or animal people tend to think of the negative and beast side of it. Which is not the way to think at all. Animals, pests, and us humans are all one collective species. We are all connected in some shape or form and we deserve to treat each other with the basic humanity we can give them.

An example of that would be at least figuring out the right words to use for one another. Which involves with treating each other with the upmost respect. It is the least that we can do for one another especially since we all live on the same planet.

We are all living here together on this world, so it is primitive that we try to take care of one another. Even if we may treat each other harshly every now and then that does mean that we stop being kind to one another. 

A huge way we can be kind is by knowing the difference between something in life it can make a crucial difference. It is imperative that there are no misunderstandings for these concepts. An example of this would be for animals, knowing the similarities and differences between what an opossum and a possum are.

Opossum

A huge difference that these animals have are their geography location. Opossums live in the North America region in places such as the U.S.A and Canada. While possums on the other hand live in places like Australia and around that region as well as more closely to kangaroos too. Something they both do share is the pronunciation. While opossum has a O in the beginning, it is supposed to be silent. Which is how come opossum and possum sound exactly the same which maybe a reason why people get the two animals confused.

These animals are also feared for their physical attributes and looks. It sucks though because this is something that they can not exactly control for themselves. The opossum is a environment friendly animal for sure and should be appreciated more. 

They eat around 5,000 ticks a season and many other pests such as mice and roaches. They are also a huge help with keeping a garden from being inflated with bugs. It is also almost impossible for an opossum to have rabies or any sickly disease. They do have some form of a virus that can kill small chickens and animals to that nature.

Both opossums and possums are also known for not being violent animals. The only time they do attack is when they ever feel threatened and so they use violence as a necessary defense. These animals should be given the respect that they deserve for giving their time and energy for us and we are the ones who take it for granted. We should not be taking them for granted, and instead we should be trying to figure out more ways to actually live more cohesively with them instead of separated. We must all try living together as one species or we will all fall.

Author: Chimare Owens

Valencia College

Student Scholarships

Every year Thrive Pest Control hosts an essay contest and the reward is a 1-year scholarship at a 4-year university in the United States. This blog post is one of those scholarships.