Now that's a latch!

We visited my parents' house in East Texas a while back. Late one night we heard some scuffling around the front porch. My mom said it might be their returning visitor, so we ran out there.

This opossum comes up there at night and eats the cat food off of a planting bench. This time she showed up with all her babies in tow - take a look below her stomach. It's an udder miracle that the babies can stay on during travel.

I was able to get pretty close with the camera, but I could tell it was bothering her. She just froze while I walked up. They can't see very well, so I'm not sure what she thought of me getting that close. I also didn't want to provoke an attack of opportunity, since that day was not a fine day to get rabies.

One thing I immediately noticed - those tails are disgusting! It was a stiff, hairless fleshy stick that went off at odd angles. Was it broken or normally like this? It didn't look like it was as articulated as a rat tail. It looked like some sort of slim jim from Videodrome or Naked Lunch to break into semi-organic cars.