Nancy Goodyear

When I was a child my brothers and I played outside a lot. Our mother taught us about the dangerous animals and plants. We learned to be cautious about what we picked up. Our father built us a terrarium box that we landscaped. We could put non-poisionous snakes and turtles in the box for a few days. Then we returned the snake or turtle to the place where we'd found it. We roamed around our environment daily and learned the common names of the animals that were present. One animal that we would occasionally see in our backyard at night was an opossum. We were fascinated with the opossum's defense mechanisms. First it would hiss and show its teeth. If that didn't get rid of us, the opossum would "play dead." Later I learned that the opossum if it cannot escape, will actually faint because it is very afraid of the perceived danger. We learned how fascinating nature is!