Can an opossum find their way home?

Answer 1

There are two schools of thought on this.

One school of thought states that possums will almost always attempt to return to the territory where they were born and raised, unless they are relocated a very long way away. Relocation can be detrimental to the possum, because they then have to compete with other possums for that territory. As a result, they invariably die after relocation.

The other school of thought states that there is insufficient evidence that possums return to a territory to fight for territorial rights to the trees. The idea that the original possum returns comes from the fact that ordinary householders simply observe that there are possums present, and are not able to distinguish between individuals. If possums are removed from a location, then others simply move into the resultant vacant territory. "Relocation, clearly, is not a humane method of dealing with a possum problem".

References: State Government of Victoria, Department of Sustainability and Environment, Governor in Council order 1995. Pietsch R. 1994, "The fate of the common urban brushtail possums translocated to sclerophyll forest." in "Reintroduction Biology of Australian and New Zealand Fauna" Surrey Beatty and Sons, Chipping Norton

Answer 2

Once a possum has established its territory, there is nothing you can do to stop it returning. There is a better chance it will return if you feed it, but if it has already established your house as its territory, feeding it will make no difference.

Answer 3

If possums are taken only a short distance away, they will certainly find their way back to their territory. Possums cannot be relocated because they are very territorial.

Answer 4

The brushtail possum of Australia certainly enters the roof space of people's houses, and sometimes chimneys. They do not enter the actual houses.

Answer 5

of course