Trail Camera Catches an Opossum Sneaking Up on a Skunk and Pushes It Into a Pond

While you may not think of the opossum as a trickster, this might change once you watch the video below!

In the video, a skunk approaches a small pond. It’s night, and the skunk appears to only want a drink as the trail camera shows it carefully leaning into the pond. However, this peaceful midnight drink doesn’t last for long as an opossum appears from the right. It approaches the skunk before hesitating.

Then, much like a cat posed to pounce, it jumps onto the backside of the skunk, pushing it into the water. The opossum runs away just as quickly as it arrives, almost leaving the video’s perspective entirely by the time the skunk emerges and drags itself out of the water.

This footage was captured by Betsy Potter of New York, who went on to become the winner of a video contest.

Watch the Video Below

Do Opossums and Skunks Get Along?

Opossums and skunks aren’t nemeses of one another. However, like all animals in a shared ecosystem, they are in constant contest for the available resources. You see, both opossums and skunks have similar diets. Because of this, and the fact that there is a finite amount of food in the area, they are in competition for resources. These resources don’t just include food, however, but can also include territory.

Since there was no food present, the opossum in this video may have just been asserting its dominance.