The Opposum's Miracle Gift

The Virginia Opposum or it's latin name Didelphis virginiana is a remarkable tiny surviver but it holds a bigger secret to it's survival other than it's already amazing survival techniques.... It cannot be poisoned by bits or stings.




The secret that makes it immune to venom/poisons of the animal kingdom is a key biological ingredient in it's immune system LTNF

Lethal Toxin Neutralizing Factor or LTNF is an anti-toxin that can neutralize 90% of all known snake poisons even poison from the deadly Australian inland Taipin arguably the deadliest venomous snake in the world not only that it can totally stop the effects of ricin.
Amazing isn't it but that is not the end of it....

When scientists tested this anti-toxin in mice,rats and small mammals they noticed that it has the same anti-toxin effects that the substance has in Opposoms.
All together the Opposom has probably the strongest immune system in the animal kingdom, It can maintain it's body at 34 degrees centigrade that in return helps it stop any germs successfully breeding in it's body it is immune to a variety of diseases and on top of this it has a miracle gift called LTNF...Something mankind can use.

Someday and someday soon mankind will not need to fear snake bites, scorpion stings or any other poisonous/venomous substance that could damage or kill us and we will have the Opposum to blame for that

LTNF patent
Link about LTNF

Apologies if this has been posted before I found nothing in the ATS search engine

reply to post by RAY1990


Very cool find. I had no idea that the opossum had an immune system like that.

My only worry down the road would be...

If everyone got injected with this anti-venom/put in water system/however they would administer it to humans in the future, would it somehow get into other animals? If it did leach into other species making them immune, how would this affect snakes/scorpions/etc.'s survival down the line. They would probably end up going extinct because they would loose their largest weapon against predators.

reply to post by fictitious


Very Possible, I think the best way to use it would be via injection this would make it safe also how much it would be used would depend on price of production. I'm not sure if it can pass from animal to animal by being eaten or any other means through the food cycle if it can needle would be the safest option.

I am not sure how long this substance will stay in your body either it could just end up being usable for a short time in the body either way it still has many uses, no doubt scientists will be looking for the genes that produce this stuff, maybe we could one day literally produce it ourselves.

Very cool OP, S&F.

Now all they need to do is mix it with DNA from Turritopsis Nutricula (type of jellyfish) and we can live forever AND be immune to poisons.

Well, when I say we, I really mean "them", because unfortunately, you and I will never see the fruits of either of these great things. They will be used to make certain "special" people immune to poisons while poisoning everyone else, and any other nefarious purpose that involves NOT helping the human race.

About the jellyfish...

Turritopsis nutricula, the immortal jellyfish, is a hydrozoan whose medusa, or jellyfish, form can revert to the polyp stage after becoming sexually mature.

Source

~Namaste

reply to post by SonOfTheLawOfOne


Tiny fascinating little things those jellyfish I remember reading about them before but would you really want to go through pubity all over again?

And your right we the people will never really have access to the true medical advances we make, you need lots of money and the right connections to live forever.
You must admit though the things we are learning about nature and how to harness it are truely amazing things like this :

Organ growing

While we have 7 billion people on the planet things like this will be rationed out so to speak although we could easily accommodate everyone on the planet the way the world is organised and ruled we can hardly keep everyone alive never mind living longer and safer lives.

Considering it's a protein safe to say stomach acid would denature it making it useless.

Cool find. Surprising they hadn't thought of this sooner.

reply to post by Turq1


I have read a bit more about it and your right

The research so for seems promising indicating this can one day replace antivenoms that are on the market today that many people are allergic to or have bad side effects more research will be needed to be done on this ofcourse but it does look good so far

Also the antivenom properties it has indicates that it neutralizes pretty much all deadly toxins making it a one stop shop to beat many different threats to the immune system

Possum's don't get rabies, either.

Fantastic find. We live 25 mins from nearest medical help with taipans, red bellied blacks and browns all around. I like the fact that red bellied blacks eat small browns but it still would be awsome if we could have a new vaccine readily available. But as already mentioned, we, the average joe blow will probably miss out. Heck, I even approached both our private doctor and the hospital asking if we could store some anti venum (sp) at our place or one of the other farms out here as a precaution (sounded pretty reasonable to me) and naturally my suggestion was rubbished. Actually, their refusal makes me pretty angry. How dare the rotten mongrels deny us the opportunity to be that little bit safer. I think I should ask whoever refuses to let us have some, to come out here for a bush walk. I'll even supply the footwear (a pair of thongs [flip flops])

reply to post by RAY1990


Here in New Zealand opossums are treated as a pest. Fair game for anyone seeing one to kill it any way possible. They drop 1080 poison all over the place to kill them, and everything else. Our country roads are lined with flat opossum roadkill. I have hit heaps, and it seems if the wheel doesn't get them they can take a 100km car knock to the head quite well, and walk off

reply to post by ZeussusZ


I think most people treat them as pests to be honest, they are in league with the badger on terms of survivability and probably the better of the two. Opposoms are weirdly tough too their bones recover from breaks extremely fast and they survive death defying falls so it's no suprise the wheel is the best way to finish them on the road.

Does the poison work well on them? I can imagine if a country had problems with opposoms they would be extremely difficult to control

They can breed upto 3 times a year and tend to have up to 20 young, they can only handle 13 so 7 tend to get "discarded" add those numbers to the immune system they have and other survivable triats they really could be problems with these cute little critters


I just read New Zealand does have a big problem with possoms just like us in the UK with badgers, unlike badgers in the UK though the possom isn't native to your isles but like the badger they get the blame for spreading bovine tuberculosis. Not sure on the facts of that but badgers and bovine tb is a debatable subject here.

reply to post by NightFlight


Very true, they regulate body temperature at about 33-34 degrees so diseases like rabies have a very little chance of multiplying enough to overun the immune system. I'm sure they are not the only animal that does this but all in all they are definatly the most survivable mammals in the animal kingdom

Originally posted by RAY1990
The Virginia Opposum or it's latin name Didelphis virginiana is a remarkable tiny surviver but it holds a bigger secret to it's survival other than it's already amazing survival techniques.... It cannot be poisoned by bits or stings.

My first thought when I read this was "that's no fair!" Seriously, what an awesome ability to have. I wish I was immune to snakebite and bee stings.
Possums are cute critters, but I never knew they were so resilient.

Doe it work against toxins in plants such at the false tomatoes and green potatoes?

reply to post by Avgudar


I can imagine so this is what the link says:

ANTI-LETHAL FACTOR FROM OPOSSUM SERUM IS A POTENT ANTIDOTE FOR ANIMAL, PLANT AND BACTERIAL TOXINS

as you can see it mentions plant and bacterial toxins the possibilities for this stuff is endless really, problem will be finding a effective way to produce it on mass