What makes humans special?

What makes the human animals stand out?

What adaptions set us apart from the rest of the animal kingdom?

It's a fun, if perhaps futile games, try and find something tangible to point to and say there.

That adaption was instrumental to humankind's success.

There is a massive variety of things that I would point to as explanations for

our ascendancy, but one adaption that we hear trumpeted over and over again is our opposable thumbs.

And yeah, the human hand is really useful. We can shoot a bow and arrow or play the piano or drive a car

all with the same hands. Heck, we can build the bow and arrow and the piano and the car all because of our hands.

We can do surgery.

We can write poetry.

We can use phones.

Perhaps you would not be surprised to hear that our purported monopoly on the opposable thumb is actually a myth.

Many of our fellow primates share our opposable thumbs.

But there is another animal, a much more distant relative,

who you have probably seen on the street dozens of times,

who also shares this trait with humankind.

An animal not only with opposable thumbs,

but a prehensile tale to boot.

The opossum. Dydelphus, Virginiaana

These creatures share our marvelous multi-tool plus one extra

So why aren't they in the driver's seat?

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