opossum

‘Marsupial’ = an animal which gives birth to an underdeveloped baby which develops into a full form in a pouch (bag-like skin fold, called ‘marsupium’) on its mother pouch.

a kind of animal – marsupial – four-legged – meat-eating – looks like (resembles) a very large rat, with long grey fur (hair), cone-shaped head, large clear eyes, straight ears, long pointed pink snout (= mouth and nose part), thin white whiskers (= stiff hairs round the mouth), many teeth, short legs, long hair-less tail covered with scales; size: 1-2 feet long plus a 1-1½ feet long tail, and weight: 2-6 Kg; feeds on (eats) insects, earthworms, frogs, bird eggs and birds, small snakes, small mammals, fruit and grain, and any edibles from the human garbage dumps; lives for 2-4 years; about 66 species, of which only one is found in North America, and the rest, are found in Central and South America

male ~~ jack

female ~~ jill

baby ~~ joey

group ~~ passel

voice (call) ~~ hiss; growl; purr

home ~~ burrows, hole {but opossums do not dig; they use the other animal burrows}

Language Usage: While writing the word ‘opossum’, some people leave out the letter ‘o’; however, an apostrophe (’) must be used in place of the letter ‘o’, e.g. ’possum, which shows that the word is actually ‘opossum’, because there is another animal which is called ‘possum‘. “Opossum”, a large rat-like marsupial, is found in Americas, and “possum”, a rat-like marsupial, is found in Australia and New Zealand. However, some people use ‘possum’ for both these animals! To know the difference between these two animals, please click here.

Some common opossums are: mouse opossum, short-tailed opossum, grey and black four-eyed opossum, brown four-eyed opossum, water opossum, woolly opossum, black short-tailed opossum, thick-tailed opossum

Special Features:
The ‘Virginia opossum’ is the only marsupial in North America.

Some people eat opossums; and some others keep them as pets.

female opossum carrying all its babies on its back

Most opossums give birth to more than ten joeys in a litter, like the ‘joeys’ of other marsupials, most of which grow in the pouch, called ‘marsupium’, on their mother’s abdomen, and later, on their mother’s back until they are old enough to leave their mother for ever.

Opossums have more teeth (about 50) than any other land animal; and they also have a ‘prehensile tail’, i.e. their hair-less tail, which is covered with scales, is used for holding on to branches of trees or other things when the opossums climbs up trees and other structures.

playing ‘possum — acting dead

The ‘water opossum’ is the only aquatic (= lives in or near water) marsupial, and it is the only living marsupial in which both male and female have pouches: in jills, to keep the babies, and in jacks, to keep the sex organs!!

The opossum usually tries to run away from the predator (= animals that tries to kill and eat it) when attacked; however, when there is no time or chance to escape, the opossum pretends to be dead, which is called “play opossum”, so that the predator, usually a dog or cat, which is used to killing live animals ignores the dead ‘opossum’! And later when everything is calm and quiet, the opossum wakes up and walks away happily!!

Return to “possum“.

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