Request for Opossum - Virginia opossum with rattlesnake

파일크기 : 258778 bytes File date : 1999:06:10 09:00:00 해상도: 1054x1032 Jpeg process : Baseline Posted Newsgroups: alt.binaries.pictures.animals Posted 촬영일: Wed, 09 Jun 1999 20:44:39 GMT

김진숙

Caption:
"OPOSSUM confronts a canebrake rattlesnake with impunity. The marsupial is impervious to the venom of snakes in the rattlesnake subfamily and views the reptiles not as lethal enemies but as a food source. In parts of Texas, copperhead snakes constitute up to 6 percent of the opossum's diet. Resistance to venom may have evolved as a specific adaptive response to an environmental threat, because the species is immune to the venom of New World snakes but succumbs to that of Old World snakes."

"아메리카주머니쥐가 검정방울뱀과 무사히 대치하고 있다. 이 유대동물은 방울뱀 아과의 뱀독에 영향을 받지 않기 때문에 독이 있는 뱀들을 치명적인 천적이 아니라 먹이감으로 여긴다. 텍사스주의 일부 지역에서는 구리머리살모사가 주머니쥐 먹이의 6%를 차지하기도 한다. 뱀독에 대한 내성은 환경의 변화에 따라 적응하여 진화한 결과로 보인다. 그 이유는 아메리카주머니쥐는 아메리카 대륙에 서식하는 뱀독에는 저항성이 있지만 유럽이나 아시안산 뱀의 독은 치명적이기 때문이다."

블랙스타

햄스터가 귀엽네요. 아메리카주머니쥐엿네

손님

cool

손님

Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana) is the only marsupial (family Didelphidae) found in North America north of the Rio Grande River. A solitary and nocturnal animal about the size of a domestic cat, it is a successful opportunist and is found throughout Central America and North America from coast to coast (introduced to California in 1910), and from Costa Rica to southern Canada; it seems to be still expanding its range northward. Its ancestors evolved in South America, but were enabled to invade North America in the Great American Interchange by the formation of the Isthmus of Panama about 3 million years ago. It is often seen near towns, rummaging through garbage cans, or lying by the side of the road, a victim of traffic.