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If you have bird feeders, opossums might visit your backyard late at night to clean up spilled seeds.

It’s time to meet the superhero of the animal kingdom – the backyard opossum!

These misunderstood marsupials are an essential part of nature’s clean-up crew. These nocturnal scavengers are beneficial because they remove dangerous pathogens from the environment. Did you know that opossums can digest almost anything, including the bones of dead animals? That means they are vital in eliminating diseases from carcasses and food waste, which could otherwise spread to humans and other animals.

But that’s not all. Opossums also have a diverse diet, including cockroaches, mice, rats, slugs, snails, toads, and snakes. Although they may occasionally sample fresh fruits or vegetables, they generally prefer plant material that has started to rot. They help keep gardens free from pests, and they even take care of ticks.

One of the most impressive qualities of opossums is that they can kill almost 95% of the ticks that try to feed on them. In fact, a single opossum can eliminate as many as 4,000 ticks in a week. That’s superhero-level tick control!

So, next time you see an opossum in your backyard, don’t chase it away. Instead, take a moment to appreciate all the hard work these humble creatures do to keep our environment clean and healthy.

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