Opossums
and other marsupials are mammals that usually have a pouch on the belly
where the young develop for awhile after they are born. There are many marsupials in Australia, and more than 70
species of opossum in the Americas, but the Virginia Opossum is the only
North American marsupial.
Opossums
also eat carrion, and many individuals are killed on highways while
attempting to feed on roadkill.
After a pregnanc
y of
only 12-13 days, the tiny, naked newborns, smaller than a dime, crawl up
through their mother's belly fur and into her pouch.
Here they attach to a nipple and continue to develop.
After about 2 months the young opossums, now bright eyed and
fully-furred, crawl out of the pouch and onto their mother's back.
The opossums front feet have five toes with claws; on the hind feet the outer four toes bear claws, and the inmost toe is opposable, like a thumb, and doesn't have a nail. The Virginia opossum has a pointed, slender face and large, broad, naked ears.
An opossum has 50 teeth, making it one of the toothiest of mammals! They are nocturnal, sleeping in a burrow during the day and hunting food at night; most are arboreal.
One of the things (besides
hissing, screeching and drooling) the opossum does when threatened is
feign death. Thus the expression "playing possum."
Was THAT an Opossum?
Look for these signs:
- Tracks.
The hind foot has a thumb-like toe slanted inward or backward,
with the three middle toes close together, and the remaining toe
separate. The foreprint is
slightly smaller, with 5 toes arranged like a star.
- Sometimes you will see the mark an opossum makes as it drags its tail.
Sometimes, opossums get into
trouble and have to be helped by people like Dr. Soifer from TWRC!
Sometimes they lose their parents, and have to be taken care of by people like Pat Isaacs, and fed milk through tubes:
and kept very warm:
