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 Opossum Marsupial of the family Didelphidae, native to South America and United States, this is the only marsupial found outside Australia. The name is also applied to members of the Australian family Phalangeridae it, and in evolutionary younger group.
The true opossums are small, and generally parole at night,being nocturnal animals that have long noses, long naked ears and prehensile tails, and opposable hind toes tips with flat pads. Their diet consists of small animals, insects, eggs, and fruits. The Virginia opossum, found as far north as New York, resembles a large rat with a white face and long, coarse fur of mixed white tipped and black tipped hairs it feeds on domestic poultry and corn and is hunted in the south as a pest as well as for food and sport. Its habit of playing possum is actually the occurrence of trance or coma induced by shock.
It has the typical marsupial pout, which is lacking in some the South American species. At birth the six to 16 young weigh 1/15 oz. and are carried in the pouch for three months. When emerging, they often spend time riding on the mother's back, clinging on to the fur or to a tail with their own tails. The Australian water opossum has webbed feet. |
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