The slithery and the fuzzy, chance encounters along the path.

Last week I caught an Eastern Glass Lizard, Ophisaurus ventralis, on the pathway to the river. This poor baby had dropped its tail to escape a predator, and just has a little stump. They look like snakes, but are true lizards despite not having legs- they have moveable eyelids, external ear openings, and inflexible jaws. The main body is actually rather stiff and not very flexible, but the tail, which takes up half or more of their length, is very supple and fragile and breaks off readily when seized by a predator. This trait is what led to the common name- Glass Lizard. With the predator distracted by the wriggling tail, the lizard is free to escape. This one is beginning to regrow its tail- but the tail will never quite look the same. In early summer, the female will lay her eggs, and then stay curled up around them until they hatch- rather sweet for a cold blooded animal. You need to be careful when catching them- try for as near the head as possible so the tail doesn't break off. They do thrash around, but I've never had one bite me. I usually don't try and catch them as I always feel guilty if they drop their tail, but this one was safe from that! The first two are close-up photographs of its head, I think they are quite handsome with their stripes and dots- and they blend in very well with the ground and ground cover, as you can see in the last photograph in this series.

Next, the cute and furry; a very young opossum, Didelphimorphia, trundling across the path. This one was very lucky, as the place I saw it is where Chester and Greta love to perch, looking for dinner. It stopped and hissed at me, brave little soul.
They are frequently referred to as possums, but that should be reserved for the Australian marsupials.
The Virginia opossums are marsupials, meaning they have pouches where the newly born wee babies climb into and attach themselves to a teat until big enough to climb in and out. Opossums are semi-arboreal, and can climb trees quite readily. Opossums are primarily nocturnal, seeing this little guy during the day was unusual. Probably had been weaned very recently and was trying to find something to eat after relying on mom for so long. They are omnivores; they will eat almost anything from fruit to carrion. One of the things they do like to eat is snakes, and supposedly, because they eat venomous snakes- the adult opossums are immune to the venom of copperheads, rattlesnakes, and cottonmouths. They can carry rabies, but this is extremely rare as they seem to be highly resistant to the disease.
Although they are not really aggressive, they do have formidable fangs and because they love to eat stinky dead animals, the bite can easily become infected. Best not to catch them, and if your dog or cat gets bitten- you should take it the vet. Opossums are marvelously adaptive and can live almost anywhere. They do have a prehensile tail, the adults use it as an aid to climbing but only the small guys can hang by their tails. They also have opposable thumbs, so much for that being a uniquely primate trait! When the babies get big enough, they will cling to the mother's back fur with their little black hands and naked tails and can hang on quite well- I've seen a mother opossum climbing rapidly up a tree with 6 or more babies hanging on for dear life. Only the adults play dead- the babies just hiss. When an adult plays dead- commonly referred to as playing possum; the animal's lips are drawn back, the teeth are bared, saliva foams around the mouth, the eyes close or half-close, and a foul-smelling fluid is secreted from the anal glands. Yuck! Even a dog will usually leave well enough alone at this point. The stiff, curled form can be prodded, turned over, and even carried away without reaction. The animal will typically regain consciousness after a period of between 40 minutes and 4 hours, a process which begins with slight twitching of the ears. I've seen this numerous times and I think it is a rather unique way of dealing with threats.