Every time we see a video about a female animal doing whatever she can to protect her young, we often talk about the sacrifices of “motherly love”, but as this video proves, there are a few exceptions to the norm…
What typically happens when a predator approaches a mother and her children is an all out war to protect and survive, like with this mama grizzly and this cow elk.
Well, a woman was driving one day when she noticed an opossum walking down the middle of the road with her entire litter clinging to her back.
First off, that’s a pretty cute visual, just a mother trying to get to place with all her kids grabbing on for the ride. It’s probably nature’s version of a mom and kids going on an airplane for the first time and everyone has their own suitcase.
Anyway, this possum wasn’t alone, as a sly fox saw an opportunity to try and snag a quick meal.
I was thinking it would just try and take out the mother and then have access to all of the babies, I mean I don’t think a possum can fight all that well, although we did see one bodyslam a skunk not to long ago, but the fox decided to use its brain and get the easiest bite of food possible.
It snuck up right behind the mother, who was completely unaware that it was in danger, and then carefully tried to snatch one of the clinging babies from her back.
Again, you would think the mother would have some type of instincts to turn around or run off or do anything, but not this mama possum. She just kept ambling away down the road, leaving herself and her babies completely vulnerable to a fox attack.
Well, the fox was successful and did snag one of the babies off her back and it truly seemed like she didn’t notice, and if she did, she certainly didn’t care. Almost like a bowl of Halloween candy with a “take one” sign on it.
The fox ran off to enjoy the spoils of victory while the mother possum went on about her day with one less mouth to feed. I get that’s why many species have evolved to birth large litter sizes, but man, it’s pretty tough to watch and doesn’t do anything to bolster the reputation of opossums…
The woman who was filming was just as surprised as me watching it all go down.
“Ohhhh. That mom didn’t… Ohh.. Oh he’s eating that thing. I don’t think that mom has even noticed! … I think she has 10 babies on her back.”
Yeah, not a good look in the slightest for the mama possum.
Shame on her, but then again, I don’t know what it’s like to raise 11 marsupials… could have just been one too many.
