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If Marco Island was looking to have an official mammal — we don’t have one, do we? — I would nominate the Opossum. Truth is, I would not have done so a month ago.

As far as I knew, or rather didn’t know, “possums” were odd little critters with rat-like tails and opposable thumbs on their back feet who scamper around our yard sometimes, annoying the dog.

After a couple of possum visits, usually after dark, we began to worry.

“Don’t they carry rabies?” I asked my husband. He had no idea.

“The only possum I know anything about is Pogo,” he said, referring to cartoonist Walt Kelly’s comic strip alter ego.

That wasn’t much help, because the possum — OK, opossum — that inhabits our yard has little or no aptitude for political or social satire in him, as far as we can tell.

Our little nightlife lover does, however, have a heckuva resume. It’s part of being a possum.

The first shocker is that possums are smarter in some ways than dogs. They’re about as smart as pigs. Next reason to respect possums is that they’ve been on this planet for awhile — about 70 million years, experts believe. That means they may have had to put up with a dinosaur or two tromping around and acting all uppity.

The possum hits just keep on coming, the more one delves into their lives and times.

There’s that “playing possum” thing. From what I’ve read, that’s somewhat over-rated by these critters as a defense mechanism. Possum experts say that if I go out into the dark when a possum shows up in our yard, he or she probably will flee if possible.

“They are well equipped to escape enemies,” notes research by the Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management. “They readily enter burrows and climb trees. When threatened, an opossum may bare its teeth, growl, hiss, bite, screech and exude a smelly green fluid. Only if all that fails will the possum play dead.”

We should not be surprised to find these little marsupials in our neighborhoods. Did I say marsupials? Yes, they are the only such native pouchy critters in North America. Babies are born tiny — half an inch long — blind and helpless. They find the mommy’s pouch and live there nursing until weaned in about seven weeks.

Possums are solitary animals except during mating season. They like to live near water, in brush piles, tree cavities, burrows or sometimes attics and garages.

Their eating habits make them one of nature’s cleanup crews. Their favorite meals include cockroaches (YES!), beetles, rates, mice, crickets and most any dead animal. If available, they’ll also eat over-ripe fruits, berries and grapes, snails and slugs. Yum.

Caution — if you have a possum hanging out at your place, be careful not to leave pet food out, on a lanai or porch where a possum can get it. He will.

More good news: Possums have a low risk of exposure — much lower than dogs — to diseases such as rabies. They don’t smell bad unless threatened.

Their biggest enemy is man — just drive up 951/Collier Boulevard and count the possum carcasses on and near the road.

So with all these qualities and attributes, why aren’t they called King-Animal-Guy or Man’s Almost Best Friend?

Their name comes from 17 century Algonquian (native American) language. “Op” meant “white” and “assom” meant “dog.”

I doubt we’ll ever see a Westminster Opossum Club show on TV, but they sure might qualify for NBC’s Neighborhood’s Best Critter.

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Chris Curle is a former news anchor for CNN and for ABC TV stations in Atlanta, Houston and Washington, D.C. E-mail: chris@chriscurle.com.