Camping, food and... possums

in field hut in the tararuas, back when they had rubbish pits, field hut had a massive rubbish pit right next to the hut and a major rat infestation, as soon as everyone went to bed you heard them running around on the top level... i warned people to hang up their food, people were laughing at me for hanging my food up. next morning there was a hole in one guy's pack and in his muesli and out the other side of the muesli and pack....

There is usually a nail sticking out of the rafters in a hut. I'll put all the food into a zip lock bag, put that into my pack and hang that from the rafters. No trouble from rats then.

Since the incident with the tenter who packed oranges (forum posted 15 Dec) opossum numbers seem to be well down, going by lack of roadkill these days ?. I wouldn't expect the same food pressure to be enticing a tent intrusion, unless it's particularly enticing bait. Maybe, think about what you're packing ?. Hut rodents are a bit different. I agree, they'll go thru packaging, plastic bags & backpacks. I know someone stopped for a trail snack and let the mouse out of her pack. In most huts I'll hang the food or keep it in a secured metal billy.

Opossum are the north american beastie - what you have are possum, courtesy of Australia (both are marsupials but otherwise quite different) - can be a bit confusing when the Yanks call theirs 'possum (and even leave out the apostrophe !)

Agreed. Two different creatures. When I was schooled, the silent "O" was still taught. Times change. https://www.atlasobscura.com/places/opossum-world (Editor’s Note: We are aware that the more correct spelling is “possum” but given that the location uses the silent “o” we have used it throughout the entry.)

It was more likely the British who stole possums from Australia to start a colony in NZ.

My understanding is that the word 'opossum' was taken from an American Indian word for the American animal. When the British arrived in Australia and found an animal vaguely similar in appearance, it was called 'possum' - no O. However, to confuse the issue, some Americans were already dropping the O for their animal. So, the Aus animal is and always has been a possum. The American animal is an opossum but some just drop the O. It's not a silent O and never has been, afaik. New Zealand has the Australian brushtailed possum (but not the ringtailed possum). Not sure 'stole' is the correct word - no law broken at that time (although it would be illegal in both countries now) and it probably was encouraged by authorities to provide food, 'sport' and fur. After all, no more moa :astonished:

Alright, 'stole' is not the best perhaps. Whether a law is in place or not , does that matter? It wasn't really theirs and they took it. They were ignorant of course.

""Footnotes H. B. Kirk, ‘Opossums in New Zealand.’ In Appendices to the Journal of the House of Representatives, 1920, H-28, p. 1. › Back ..."" ""O, possum! From 1934 Australian scientists decided on the name of ‘possum’ for members of the Phalangeridae family, including the brushtail possum, to differentiate them from the American opossum, a marsupial from a completely different family."" https://teara.govt.nz/mi/possums/print While I wasn't at school before 1934, my teacher may have been. ""The O in "opossum" is spelled but not pronounced. It is a silent letter, just like the H in the word "honest." The articles "a" and "an" are correctly based on the first pronounced letter, not simply the first letter."" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk%3AOpossum#Possum_vs._Opossum Tho, times change & internet threads weave & tangle.

Possum is Latin for "I am able" or "I can".