Animal Tracks

Animal Tracks Earl Plato

We are on the Lower Trail at Marcy Woods. My quest are for animal tracks. Of all the tracks I have seen there is one that I have never recognized at Marcys. I told owner Dino DiDizeno Jr. that I had seen that Carolinian transplant, the opossums’ dead bodies, on Point Abino Road, Mitchener Road, and last year even on Matthews Road. These three roads surround the Marcy farm property north of Marcy Woods. Point? There must be some opossums in the Woods. I told Dino Jr. that I love tracking animals. I have three animal track books - The largest and most complete is the Peterson Guide book. Great for reference but too bulky to carry at least for me. Friend, Erin, gave me a more compact one, Animal Tracks Ontario, by Ian Sheldon. It’s my favourite. One I had for years is the convenient, Track Finder, by Dorcas Miller. Tattered and torn it now rates below the Sheldon book. Opossums or possums, what do you know about them and their tracks?
Sme fifty years now this slow moving marsupial from the Carolinas has lived in Southern Ontario. That’s my guess. I have had some exciting encounters with the ‘possum. That’s another story. It’s the unusual tracks it makes that I find interesting. I have seen them in mud and yes, even in the snow during the warmer weeks of winter as late as in 2002. I remember the unusual hind print next or beside the fore print. Once you have seen the ‘possum’s rear foot print you won’t forget it. The long, distinctive , inward-pointing thumb is unique. No other mammal has such a footprint. I have seen one possum with a shortened tail. Normally the long-naked tail makes a line in the snow as it rambles along. This thinly haired animal can suffer from frost bite and as a result the unprotected tail suffers irreparable damage and part may fall off. Remember that it’s primarily an animal of the Carolinas and warmer temperatures. Look for the tell tale opossum tracks.
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Joyce Berry of Ridgeway (Thunder Bay) has photos of local opossums. John Day of Ridgeway has three ‘possuns visitors on a regular basis.
John feeds them and knows quite a bit of their daily habits. After several decades of its presence in Southern Ontario let’s accept this southern transplant as a natural citizen.