March 28, 2024

A movie of an opossum being addressed to his personal charcuterie board is warming hearts online.

Dodger, a 5-thirty day period-outdated opossum, life at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle, Washington. In the clip shared by the zoo’s Fb web page on November 21, Dodger can be viewed experiencing a specifically made “charcuterie board.”

Usually a variety of meats surrounded by complementary meals, Dodger’s dish features worms, eggs, sweetcorn, avocado, anchovies and a lot more.

Just after sniffing all over the platter, served on prime of a tree stump, Dodger begins digging in. Unfortunately, his tongue is not quite coordinated, knocking fifty percent the meals to the floor. On the other hand, he appears significantly fond of the uncooked chicken strips and mealworms, guzzling them down.

Facebook end users could not get adequate of the lovable opossum and his ravenous appetite, with the adorable clip acquiring about 25,000 views and 1,600 likes.

Dodger the Opossum Eating His Charcuterie Board
Dodger the opossum came to Woodland Park Zoo at 4 months outdated, following he and his two siblings survived a pet dog assault.
Woodland Park Zoo/Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren

What Do Opossums Eat?

Superior recognized as “possums” in North The us, opossums are the only marsupials (pouched mammals) that live in the U.S. and Canada, according to Nationwide Geographic.

There are many varieties of opossum, but it can be the Virginia opossum (also acknowledged as the “common” opossum) that most Individuals will realize.

Scavengers by character, it is really common to locate opossums pawing by means of your garbage can or generating camp in dumpsters (or hanging out with skunks and raccoons in your backyard). Nonetheless, they are also proficient climbers and can switch up in sites you would minimum assume.

A representative for Woodland Park Zoo instructed Newsweek that as omnivores, opossums want a mixture of fruit, veggies and protein to stay wholesome.

“In the wild, opossums can eat 1000’s of ticks per calendar year, which is tremendous valuable for those of us who like to shell out time in mother nature and not come back again with ticks on us,” they stated.

‘Charcuterie Isn’t really Just for Humans’

Dodger came to Woodland Park Zoo in October, when he was just 4 months outdated. He and his two siblings were rescued by Stage Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma, Washington, immediately after their mom was killed in a dog assault.

“He and his siblings have been far too younger to endure with out mom’s aid, so Point Defiance hand-reared them,” Woodland Park Zoo said.

“His siblings moved to other services accredited by the Association of Zoos and Aquariums.”

The zoo stated his beloved food items are hen, fish and difficult-boiled eggs (which the workforce peels very first), banana, eggs and avocado.

“In essence, he just loves foodstuff in common,” she reported.

Dodger the Opossum Eating His Charcuterie Board
Woodland Park zoo explained to Newsweek that Dodger’s preferred meals is chicken.
Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo

As Dodger is new to his household, the charcuterie board was a welcome present from the Woodland Park Zoo group.

“The charcuterie board represents buddies and family members coming jointly to spoil and celebrate every other, so we thought what improved deal with to reward our newly arrived rescue opossum!” they stated.

“Fortunately, our animal keeper group and photographer jumped at the concept and our little charcuterie dreams arrived true. Celebrating diet has under no circumstances seemed a lot more cute.”

But did Dodger enjoy the effort? The zoo thinks so.

“He thoroughly picked preferred merchandise off his charcuterie board… right until he climbed on prime of the board and sat on all of his foodstuff whilst eating it,” they claimed.

When he is not consuming, Dodger enjoys napping in his beloved hammock. He’s also teaching to be an ambassador animal so he can get part in outreach assignments.

Preparing Dodger's charcuterie board
Dodger’s charcuterie board features anchovies, mealworms, boiled eggs and a assortment of greens.
Jeremy Dwyer-Lindgren/Woodland Park Zoo

“He is understanding behavioral pursuits these types of as voluntarily walking into his crate, touring in a crate, ready at a ‘station’ although we open and near doors, climbing little trees that we use for the duration of instruction and outreach courses, touching his nose to a concentrate on adhere and substantially more,” Woodland Park Zoo claimed.

“We’re also teaching him how to say ‘yes’ and ‘no’ so that he can choose no matter whether or not to participate in instruction and packages just about every working day.”

The adorable video clip acquired Dodger a lot of new fans on line.

“Appears to be like he is getting a little feast,” commented Justin Letkowski.

“What a pretty handle,” explained Leslie Kowash.

“Livin’ the fantastic life,” agreed Lucy Faerber.

“A little messy,” wrote Sally Johnson. “But I’m absolutely sure he’ll clear it up.”

“He’s continue to working on the desk manners I see,” added Sophie Morse.

Whilst Teena Williams claimed: “Charcuterie isn’t just for humans.”

Dodger is not the only hungry opossum to go viral this year. Back again in March, George the opossum was dubbed “the cutest factor” by TikTok consumers, with footage of him chomping on a strawberry getting 1.2 million views and 320,000 likes.

Do you have funny and cute films or images of your pet you want to share? Mail them to daily [email protected] with some particulars about your very best friend and they could appear in our Pet of the 7 days lineup.