The Virginia opossum is North America's only marsupial. It is about the size of a house cat. It is 15-18 inches long and weighs about 4-14 pounds. Its body is a gray or black color. Its head and throat are a whitish color. It has a pointed pink nose. It has no fur on its ears. It has a long scaly tail, but short legs. There are five toes on each foot, but the back legs have an opposable thumb, so it's like it has four fingers and a thumb on each hind leg.
Opossums are found in North America, from Central America and Mexico in the south, through the United States east of the Rocky Mountains and north into southwestern Ontario. Opossums are also found along the west coast of the United States. The Virginia opossums live in deciduous forests, open woods, brushy wastelands, and farmlands. They actually build their homes in leaf nests, fallen trees, abandoned burrows or other protected places. Although they do not travel a lot, they will move from an area in 2 - 3 days if there is not a constant food supply.
The opossum is an omnivore. It eats almost anything it can catch, like rats, mice, moles, slugs, snails, shrews, worms, frogs, large insects, and other small animals. It also eats fruit, nuts, bird eggs and even garbage.
The opossum has a gestation period of less than 11-13 days. After that time, any number from 4-20 babies, each smaller than a dime, climb up through the hair of the mother and enter a vertical opening of her pouch. There they will attach themselves to a teat and nurse for 2-3 months. Once they have developed a little more, the babies crawl out of the pouch and cling to the mother's back for an additional 2-3 months until they are ready to make it on their own.
Opossums are nocturnal animals. They do not hibernate, but will hole up in really bad weather in the winter. They are also very good climbers. They use their prehensile tails for stability while they are climbing, not for hanging.
Have you ever heard of the expression "playing opossum"? When a opossum is threatened, it may roll over, shut its eyes, stick out its tongue, and pretend it is dead. If it doesn't do that, it may try to bluff its attacker by hissing, screeching, salivating, opening its mouth wide to show all of its 50 teeth, and sometimes it excretes a greenish substance. Oppossums only live for 1-2 years in the wild because of so many predators (dogs, cats, birds of prey, and cars). If they are in captivity they will live up to 10 years.
The Brandywine Traveling Zoo has two female opossums. One is named Phoebe and the other is Piper.
http://www.opossum.org
http://www.opossumsocietyus.org
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/nature/wild/mammals/oposum.htm
http://www.squirrel-rehab.org/opossum/opossum.html
http://animaldiversity.ummz.umich.edu/accounts/didelphis/d._virginiana$narrative.html
http://www.flex.net/~lonestar/opossum.htm
by Jonathan
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