Friday, November 30, 2012

Southern Delicacies

Like wild turkeys, the Virginia opossum is also non-native to California and introduced from the east. San Jose in 1910 was one such release point. As resilient and omnivorous as raccoons and bears, possums have expanded quickly, and today are relatively common up and down CA, and especially in rural, urban and suburban areas. I.e., around us.

Recently, after I set a 10 mega pixel cam trap on a pond edge to try and get wood ducks, one plunked down for a spell to gnaw at an itch.

opossum

pond set

Small eyes and a huge nasal cavity show these characters get around mostly by nose.

And their skull sure doesn't suggest a lot of brain power - check out that tiny cranium:

opossum opossum

But they do have that prehensile tail, which is pretty cool. Oh - and 50 teeth - the most of any North American mammal.

(if you've ever seen one hiss at you, it seems more like 500).

opossum

opossum

After giving the cam one last glance, possum left.

But then came and went several times more during the night.

opossum

opossum

Perhaps hoping for one of these...

bullfrog

Yet another non-native species introduced to Cali from east of the Rockies for food.

In this case, instead of an omnivore that doesn't generally out-compete or over-eat native species (opossums kinda play well with others) - it's the American bullfrog - an aggressive carnivore that eats anything and everything it can grab and gulp - including insects, crawdads, fish, birds, eggs, mice, tadpoles and other frogs and bullfrogs. And in so doing, unfortunately, bullfrogs have helped decimate California's native red-legged and yellow-legged frogs.

Ah, consequences.

bullfrog

Btw - the bullfrog's ear tympanum shows you their sex - if proportional to their eye-size, it's a female, and if the drum is much larger, it's a male.

Personally, if I had to choose between the two - I'd definitely eat bullfrogs.

Maybe we should start a restaurant that serves "Non-Native Suppression Stir Frys"?

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8 comments:

  1. Have you checked out the invasivore blog? http://invasivore.org/. You may find some good recipes.

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    1. Mmmmm... Frog Legs Picata. Great pointer David!

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  2. Although I had a pet Opossum, (nasty, mean animal) I did not eat it. My Mexican neighbors did, with my consent. No word on how it tasted.
    Bullfrog legs are really delicious. Bullfrog stir fry sounds good to me. It's dinnertime.

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    1. Thanks for the hearty laugh John. I've heard that possums were/are well embraced by the Mexican oven. Ala guinea pigs in Peru (which I have had).

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  3. Interesting. In the 5th shot (opossum walking) there's a leaf in the lower left corner that's blotchy yellow and brown, and it looks EXACTLY the same as the bullfrog's legs. Great camouflage.

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    1. Good eye bb. That's a dropped willow leaf, a common species along ponds and creeks, and an excellent camo copy for the bullfrogs living underneath.

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  4. Beautiful pictures of a beautiful mammal (IMHO).

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  5. Wow! I didn't know that about the bullfrog tympanum! Great post and pics.

    Bill

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