© 2026 WRVO Public Media
NPR News for Central New York
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

The Opossom - Southern Gentleman - Northern Scoundrel

John Weeks talks about his knowledge of the opossum. During an early morning road trip he saw an opossum about to cross the road where cars were steadily driving and quickly turned around to avoid getting hit. Anybody that drives and has seen a possum on the road knows that there slow pace makes them vulnerable which increases their rate of road kill. At one point they were so rare that people did not believe he actually saw them, but that has changed now.

This episode of Nature of Things was originally aired December 12th, 1991.

John Weeks studied ornithology and wildlife management at Cornell University and earned a graduate degree in plant ecology from Syracuse University. He has served as Conservation Biologist for the NYS Conservation Department; Associate Professor of Biology at SUNY Oswego; Founding Director of The Rogers Environmental Education Center at Sherburne, NY; and Director of the Onondaga Nature Center and Center for Nature Education at Baltimore Woods, Marcellus, NY. He assisted in the creation of the Cayuga Nature Center and the Sterling Nature Center in Cayuga County near Fair Haven, NY.
WRVO is now well into its second year without federal funding. Through it all, our mission has stayed the same: serving central and upstate New York with trusted journalism, vital local coverage, and the diverse programming that informs and connects our communities. Listeners like you are what keep journalists on the ground, asking the hard questions that matter to our region.

Stand with public media and make your gift today. You'll be supporting more than yourself. You'll be supporting everyone who depends on WRVO as a trusted resource and civic cornerstone in central and upstate New York.