More PA wildlife facts: Opossums are another species that are likely to share the night with area residents who head out for a drive or spend time outdoors after dark.

Opossums, also known as possums in North America, are the only marsupials that live north of Mexico.

There is a possum species in Australia, however, that is a vastly different animal than the one we know here in the US.

Possums may not win the cutest woodland creature award, but they are important to the ecosystem. More important, they cut down on the occurrence of Lyme Disease, a fact that humans should be grateful to hear. Possums eat ticks, which spread Lyme Disease.

In fact, a single possum eats 5,000 ticks in a single season. This should make them a welcome visitor to your backyard or neighboring fields.

Possums are also immune to snake venom. They carry a peptide that protects them from the venom of snakes local to their area — with the exception of the coral snake. Possums use this to their advantage and eat snakes when they encounter them.

They also have great memories, and remember the best way to find food and also the smell of toxic substances, even as long as a year after they were previously exposed to said substance.

Possums are social creatures. They are known to share dens even if they aren’t mates.

They have prehensile tails, which they use as an extra appendage. Also, when it comes to playing dead in the face of a predator — a well known attribute of the species — this is something they cannot control. Instead, the reaction is involuntary and triggered by stress. When it comes to ‘playing possum,’ the animal has no control over the reaction or how long it can last.

On the upside, possums are immune to rabies. This may have something to do with the lower body temperature of a marsupial, making them not suitable to host the disease.