Each year, California wildlife are significantly affected by urbanization and climate change disrupting their daily lives and behavior patterns. Some wildlife can’t survive the impacts of growing human populations, while others are learning to adapt to our jungle of human infrastructure, technology and weird human behaviors.
Dozens of California residents throughout the state are reporting strange wildlife behavior as opossums have begun asking for their wifi passwords. The Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana), the only marsupial species in North America, has been adapting to humans and urbanization in California since they were introduced here in the 1890s.
Auburn, California, residents Carol and Karl Clutterbuck described this new wildlife behavior; “Every night for weeks, opossums have been ringing our doorbell, nervously smiling, and asking for our wifi password. Once they have it, they just keep coming back night after night. They will sit on our porch for hours streaming movies and watching cat videos.”
The opossum is one of Earth’s oldest surviving mammals adapting to their changing environments for at least 70 million years. Wildlife biologist, Barney Flarney, explains this new opossum adaptation to California urbanization, “Living around humans, opossums have easily adapted to free sources of food, water and places to shelter in our urban settings. Having a keen sense of smell and a remarkable memory, opossums can recall food sources and problem solve our neighborhoods easily – even figuring out our technology.
Opossums Go Wild in the Smartphone Era
For decades, the Virginia opossum has watched human’s nocturnal obsession with our phones. With opposable thumbs on their back feet, their use of smartphones was really only a matter of time. Their prehensile tail acts as an extra hand –typically used for tasks like carrying nest-building material to help them climb. Now they use them to take better selfies, so it’s no wonder they would adapt quickly to our social media too.
Opossums have been trending well on TikTok and Instagram with topics like food, lifestyle and self-care. Along with big names like Selena Gomez and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, opossums could be the next big social media influencers. That is, if they were only in it for the long-haul. In the wild, opossums have a very short life span of 2-3 years, preferring “15 minutes of fame” to a “ten year” business plan.
Living such a short time, these marsupials have to pack a lot into a life – like eating, sleeping, and reproducing (they can have up to 3 litters per year). Therefore, it is no surprise opossums are adapting to smartphone apps like DoorDash and GrubHub (for food delivery) and dating apps like Tinder, to help them “swipe right” to meet new potential mates.
Tips for Deterring Wifi Hungry Opossums
If opossums are bothering you for your wifi password, wildlife experts suggest these tips to keep opossums moving on and leaving you alone. Note: These tips also work for unwanted children and house guests.
- Change your wifi password or streaming services. NEVER give out your passwords to opossums.
- DO NOT leave food or wifi passwords outside overnight. Once they find a source they will continue to return.
- Close off or block entrances or openings around the house, including porches, decks, and buildings. Unwanted guests and opossums look for places around your home they can curl up and sleep. Reducing access to the comfortable areas will reduce their urge to stay.
- Make the yard less appealing by pruning trees and shrubs, removing brush piles and other debris, and cleaning up fallen tree fruit.
Thank you for doing your part to coexist with wildlife. From everyone at Gold Country Wildlife Rescue, Happy April Fools!
