biochemical mechanisms to enable a long lifespan. In support of this hypothesis, one population on Sapelo Island, off the coast of Georgia, which has been isolated for thousands of years without natural predators, was found by Dr. Steven Austad to have evolved lifespans up to 50% longer than those of mainland populations. Historical references An early description of the opossum comes from explorer John Smith, who wrote in Map of Virginia, with a Description of the Countrey, the Commodities, People, Government and Religion in 1608 that "An Opassom hath an head like a Swine, and a taile like a Rat, and is of the bignes of a Cat. Under her belly she hath a bagge, wherein she lodgeth, carrieth, and sucketh her young." The opossum was more formally described in 1698 in a published letter entitled "Carigueya, Seu Marsupiale Americanum Masculum. Or, The Anatomy of a Male Opossum: In a Letter to Dr Edward Tyson," from Mr William Cowper, Chirurgeon, and Fellow of the Royal Society, London, by Edward Tyson, M.D. Fellow of the College of Physicians and of the Royal Society. The letter suggests even earlier descriptions. Relationship with humans Like raccoons, opossums can be found in urban environments, where they eat pet food, rotten fruit, and human garbage. Humans may be causing an increase in body size for opossums that live near urban environments. Though sometimes mistakenly considered to be rats, opossums are not closely related to rodents, or other placental mammals. Opossums are surprisingly resistant to rabies, most likely because they have lower body temperatures than most placental mammals. In addition, opossums limit the spread of Lyme disease, as they successfully kill off most disease-carrying ticks that feed on them, though this has been recently challenged. D. virginiana is among the most common predators of poultry farming in North America. The opossum was once a favorite game animal in the United States, particularly in the southern regions which have a large body of recipes and folklore relating to it. Their past wide consumption in regions where present is evidenced by recipes available online and in books such as older editions of The Joy of Cooking. A traditional method of preparation is baking, sometimes in a pie or pastry, though at present "possum pie" most often refers to a sweet confection containing no meat of any kind. Around the turn of the 20th century, the opossum was the