Opossums don’t really eat ticks. The ‘study’ that said that was pretty bad science. If I stuck you in a room with nothing but dog food for a while, and then said that humans eat dog food at X rate, would you consider it a true statement?
Interesting. I wasn’t aware of the controversy around that assertion. The 2021 study doesn’t necessarily seem entirely definitive either in my opinion, the total absence of ticks in the stomach contents despite the presence of many other insects seems suspicious, and they only examined 32 possums from a single area. Nonetheless you’re right, the other study doesn’t seem to have had the best methodology. I’d like to see more information but a search really only turns up those two studies and a bunch of shitty articles on them.
NE near coastal fresh wetlands of the US are absolutely crawling in ticks. Ughhhhhhh. Nature has rejected us.
Apparently turkeys eat ticks. We just need to keep the wild turkey population up and they’ll help cull the infestation.
Possums do too! And they’re immune to rabies. Awesome little cute scary looking creatures.
Opossums don’t really eat ticks. The ‘study’ that said that was pretty bad science. If I stuck you in a room with nothing but dog food for a while, and then said that humans eat dog food at X rate, would you consider it a true statement?
Interesting. I wasn’t aware of the controversy around that assertion. The 2021 study doesn’t necessarily seem entirely definitive either in my opinion, the total absence of ticks in the stomach contents despite the presence of many other insects seems suspicious, and they only examined 32 possums from a single area. Nonetheless you’re right, the other study doesn’t seem to have had the best methodology. I’d like to see more information but a search really only turns up those two studies and a bunch of shitty articles on them.