Opossums have an image problem. They hiss, they play dead, and most people only see one at night in the beam of a torch. Duncan Mae is doing her bit to fix that, mostly by lying on a sofa.
When rescuers found her, abandoned and alone, they noticed something odd: she could only turn left. Watching her over several days, they realised the unusual movement meant she could never safely be released into the wild. So she stayed, and she turned out to be extraordinarily affectionate, the kind of animal who now spends hours a day asleep on the couch. Her story, told in a four-minute video by the animal channel Cuddle Buddies, passed 150,000 views within two days.
Why opossums deserve a second look
The Virginia opossum is North America’s only marsupial, a distant cousin of kangaroos that carries its young in a pouch. It has 50 teeth, more than any other North American land mammal, and when truly terrified it can collapse into a convincing fake death, the origin of “playing possum”.
It also lives a remarkably short life. In the wild, a Virginia opossum rarely survives beyond about two years, and even in captivity four is a good age. That makes every comfortable month Duncan gets more significant than it might sound.
Our take on the video
This is a gentle, well-made rescue story, and it works because it does not oversell. There is no dramatic music swelling over a sad animal; there is a small, slightly odd creature, a patient person, and a lot of yawning. The comments are almost entirely kind, which is not something you can say about most of the internet.
A few viewers suggested causes for the circling, from an old head injury to a stroke, and recommended exercises. It is worth being careful there. Circling in animals can have many causes, some treatable, and only a vet can say which applies. The video does not claim a diagnosis, and neither should anyone watching it.
The other note of caution is about copying. Videos like this can make wild animals look like easy pets. They are not. In many US states it is illegal to keep native wildlife without a permit, and an injured or orphaned opossum has the best chance with a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, who can judge whether it can return to the wild. If you find one, that is the call to make.
For Duncan Mae, the wild was never going to be an option. What she has instead looks like a very good second best: a warm couch, a family, and a fan club that now runs into six figures. You can follow her day-to-day life on her own social account, aptly named for the direction she prefers.
Further reading
Image: Lauren McLaurin, CC BY 4.0 via Wikimedia Commons
This article was produced with AI assistance and reviewed by our Editorial Desk. How we work.
