19372
By Science News
John Harris is quoted as saying that the absence of opossums is a “curious exception” to the list of current mammals of the Los Angeles Basin preserved in the La Brea tar pits. But the presence of opossums on the West Coast is well documented to be very recent. All current California opossums derive entirely from the liberation of the stock of failed fur farms in the San Jose area circa 1910.
Michael J.P. Nichols
San Francisco, Calif.
Andrew J. Glick
Centreville, Va.
Jim Nottke
Pfafftown, N.C.