Virginia Opossum
(Didelphis marsupialis)

The opossum is the only species of marsupial in North America.

The opossum is about the size of a house cat but heavier bodied and with shorter legs. It looks somewhat like a large, fat, whitish rat with its pointed face, naked feet and tail. The ears, unlike rat's ears, are naked, paper-thin and they are black. (A rat has fur on its ears.) The tail is strong and prehensile (able to wrap around things and hold on, like a monkey's tail). When the young emerge from the pouch, the mother often carries them on her back and they wrap their tails around hers to hold on.

The opossum's feet are very unusual with the front foot having five widely spread toes with thin bases and a bulbous tip. All toes look similar. The hind foot is quite different as it has the appearance of a hand, complete with an opposable (grasping) thumb for climbing and walking along branches. Again the toe tips are bulbous and the thumbprint will be nearly at right angles to the rest of the foot.

A strange survival technique the opossum uses is to play dead. It will first try to frighten off the threat with hisses and screeches but, if this doesn't work, it will flop on its side, loll its tongue out and drool.

Opossums are generally nocturnal, solitary or in family groups, and their diet is extremely varied including eggs, fruit, insects, carrion, small mammals and birds, and seeds. They live in woods and farmland.

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