THE FOOD OF OPOSSUMS

Otago Daily Times, Issue 21359, 12 June 1931, Page 8

THE FOOD OF OPOSSUMS

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —I am not a trapper of opossums, but, as a student of wild life, I have observed them closely, and have collected information as to their habits. Perhaps the following rather disjointed notes may be of assistance to your correspondents. I have myself found these animals to eat the leaves, young shoots, and berries of fuchsia, mahoe, broadleaf, wineberry, ivytree, hinau, miro. and kohekohe. They appear to be particularly fond of young shoots, browsing on them so continually as permanently to stunt, if not actually kill young trees- in districts where the opossums are common. From the reports of Professor Kirk:— « Considerable damage is done to orchards by opossums eating the leaves and young shoots of apples. lemons, peaches, and all other stone fruits; they bite fruit of all kinds, sometimes leaving it damaged on the trees or causing it to fall. They also bite off buds and shoots of roses and other garden shrubs, eat peas when the pods are filling, and other vegetables. In the bush they eat the leaves and young shoots of wineberry, pate, karaka. mahoe, broadleaf, fuchsia, kohuhu. tarata, miro, nikau. as well as the fruit in some cases. By their weight they break the young shoots, causing them to wither. . . . On Kapiti Island kohekohe. mahoe and the passion flower are among the plants that most frequently show the manes of having been attacked. As far ns .‘Wapiti and its’welfare as a sanctuary is concerned. the only safe aim is the absolute extinction of the opossum. . . . 1 found in their stomachs portions of unfledged birds. . . . They occasionally

r °Mr w! W. Smith: “I have found opossums in captivity to be very partial to small birds’ eggs. They feed largely on the leaves of bonbon in the bush and used to come to the shed where horsefeed is kept and help themselves to oats. A Wellington trapper: I have seen an opossum catch and eat a bird. I have known a pigeon’s nest to be destroyed by

an opossum, and on one occasion I found an egg in the'stomach of one I dissected. Mr L. O. H, Tripp, president of the New Zealand acclimatisation societies: “ Opossums should not be released near orchards and should not be permitted in bird sanctuaries.” West Coast Acclimatisation Society: “ The opossum is destroying some of the larger trees.” Foreman, Botanic Gardens, Wellington. “ I am much pestered with opossums eating roses and other plants. I cannot be convinced that they do not eat birds, as I find feathers of thrushes and yellowhammers at the entrances to their holes.” An Otago trapper; “I have not been trapping this year, but from the look of the trees file opossums must have been plentiful, as the trees are badly barked. I am in favour of trees, not opossums.” Mr E. S. Allen, Waitara: “For many years I bred opossums in a properly constructed house and they would very quickly devour any bird that would get into their quarters. I have seen many a sparrow caught and eaten in very quick time, while birds’ eggs were a great treat.” Mr A. S. Wilkinson in the Emu: “I have travelled down gullies in the Tararuas for hours without seeing a healthy tree of mahoe, fuschia, or fivefinger, most of them having all the leaves and young shoots eaten off and hundreds are dead. As fuschia and mahoe are much frequented by our native birds, the former by the honey-eaters and the latter by the native pigeon, it can easily be seen how much barm the opossums are doing.” Report on the Ross Creek plantations, Dunedin: “The opossums have badly ringbarked 20-year-old pine trees.”

Mr F. Hart, writing to Mr Eustace Russell, Invercargill: “The opossum eats seeds of broadleaf, kamahi, fivefinger, supple jack, fuschia, and wineberry. Fed on turnips, 12 opossums would eat as much as one sheep.” An Auckland orchardist, quoted by Mr G. M. Thomson. M.L.C.: “If you want to see how opossums and fruit trees thrive together take a run down to Motutapn. Opossums you will see, but it will heed a guide to show you where the fruit trees were planted.” Enough here, I think, to show that, in New Zealand, the opossum is omnivorous and that, if numerous enough, he may cause considerable harm to both bird and plant life. If there is no restriction on annual trapping and if the price of furs makes it worth while to trap, we have little to fear from their depredations, but close seasons, combined with depressed fur markets, may allow them to increase to such an extent ns to become a menace. Overstocking of the bush with opossums will result in serious competition with the bird life on which the welfare of the forests depends. A bird may have plenty of food for 11 months and die of starvation in the twelfth.—l am. etc.. Dunedin, June 11. PiTAEANOER.