The Opossum's Big Toe

Video Transcript

"Take a closer look at this animal and you are going to see it has something that is not rat like at all. It is a thumb like big toe. It looks very similar to your thumb and that is divergent or to the side and it is opposable. That just means it is opposite the finger. It can do so it has a a really strong grasp when it is in the trees or when it is walking the telephone wire. Let me show you. So that thumb like big toe you are going to find on other animals as well, that happens to be arboreal or living in a tree, you are going to find that in South American monkey's and you will also find it on a Koala and of course you find it on our thumbs which just tells us that our ancestors lived in trees. "