AURORA, Mo. — Saturday morning, the Aurora and Marionville Police Department shared a sweet video on Facebook of some baby opossums officers rescued.

A comment on the post from the department said the opossums were taken to Sunshine Animal Hospital in Springfield, which has a licensed specialist in wildlife rehabilitation.

The Facebook post said, “One second you’re splitting up a fight, the next you’re rescuing baby opossums. Always variety when you work at a police department!”

According to the San Diego Zoo, the “o” in “opossum” is important. It designates the marsupials that live in the Americas. “Possums” refers to the group of marsupials that live in Australia and New Guinea.

A male opossum is called a “jack,” and a female is called a “jill.” Babies are called “joeys” and they usually stay in their mother’s pouch for seven to 10 weeks, then they ride on their mother’s back to get around until they are older.

Opossums are nocturnal, meaning they are usually active at night. They help the environment by eating ticks that can carry disease and other common pests and insects…even venomous snakes.