Ever since the Pokémon games and television show was released in the US back in the 90s, I have always wanted the franchise's incredible creatures to be real. I can remember blowing out the candles at my seventh birthday and wishing that Pokémon will somehow inhabit the Earth.
Sadly, the closest I have ever gotten to that dream coming true was Pokémon GO and that one time a pigeon flew into my face.
But now, a veterinary clinic in Australia has revealed that there are creatures on our planet that do resemble Pokémon. So much, in fact, that if I was to ever encounter this particular possum in the wild, I'd have a hard job not throwing Poké Balls at it.
Writing on the official Boronia Veterinary Clinic And Animal Hospital Facebook page, staff said:
"We recently had a very special possum brought in to the clinic. She’s a rare golden variety of the Common Brushtail Possum."
Somewhat unsurprisingly, the post was inundated with comments saying how the baby possum bares a striking resemblance to Ash Ketchum's iconic starter Pokémon, Pikachu:
Explaining the extraordinary coloring of the small mammal, the veterinary clinic said:
"The golden colour occurs due to a mutation which causes a low level of the pigment melanin which gives them their normal colour."
However, despite looking remarkable to us, the animal hospital revealed that the possum's bright fur is actually more of a threat to the creature, as it makes it stand out more to predators in the wild:
"They are so rare in the wild as although their bright colour makes them look special to us, they also stand out to predators!"
Fortunately though, this particular baby brushtail wasn't destined to be released back into the wild, and instead had been taken in by some loving trainers - I-I mean... carers. The vets concluded in their post:
"Luckily for this baby brushtail she’s gone to carers to be raised and then will end up in a wildlife sanctuary so she can live a long happy life"
And despite being listed in the Pokédex as an "electric mouse" Pokémon, Atsuko Nishida - who previously worked at Game Freak, the primary developer of the Pokémon games - has stated that Pikachu's design was actually based off a squirrel, not a mouse.
"At that time, I was really into squirrels," Nishida, told Yomiuri, "so I wanted the character to have puffy cheeks. Squirrel tails are cute (so I wanted it to have a tail). However, I wanted the character to have a lightning element, so I made it shaped like lightning."