45 fascinating Facts concerning Opossums


45 fascinating Facts concerning Opossums

45 fascinating Facts concerning Opossums
45 fascinating Facts concerning Opossums

45 fascinating Facts concerning Opossums

Opossums ar endearing wild creatures found in North and South America. The expedient beast will eat something Associate in Nursingd hisses to defend itself from an assailant. however what’s additional fascinating is that it usually ‘plays dead,’ typically for hours, to thwart off Associate in Nursing attack (remember Crash and Eddie from the picture Ice Age?).

Here, presents a listing of forty five such intriguing facts concerning opossums, their lives and their surroundings.

Quick Facts concerning Opossum
Name and Taxonomy
Habits and way
Habitat and Endangerment
Opossum in society & culture
Quick Facts concerning Opossum

Scientific name: Didelphis virginiana (Virginia opossum), opossum (Common opossum)
Size: 2.5ft (76cm) from head to tail
Weight: 8.8 to 13.2lb (4 to 6kg)
Lifespan: 2 years within the wild; will reach four years old-time in captivity
IUCN conservation status: Least Concern

Name And Taxonomy
forty five fascinating Facts concerning Opossums

Opossums belong to the ‘infraclass’ of mammals known as order Marsupialia.
Opossums belong to a similar cluster as Kangaroos and Koalas, that have similar marsupial characteristics. curiously, Kangaroos and Koalas ar solely found in Australia – many miles faraway from the opossums’ aim solid ground.
Opossums ar typically known as Possums in North America. The term ‘possum’ conjointly refers to talk to some arboreal marsupial species of Australia. However, these animals don’t seem to be a similar because the North yankee opossum, that belongs to a separate biological order that its Australian cousins don’t seem to be a locality of.
There ar quite twenty species of opossums. the foremost notable ar the six species at intervals the Didelphis.
The most well known opossum species (under genus Didelphis) ar the Virginia opossum and therefore the possum. The Virginia opossum is preponderantly found in east and south of North America. The possum is found in Central America and therefore the northern South America.

Opossums have a period of simply 2 years. A wild opossum could even live for under a year whereas opossums raised in captivity will live up to four years.
forty five fascinating Facts concerning Opossums

Opossums ar virtually the dimensions of a Felis domesticus. Male opossums ar slightly larger than females, however the distinction therefore very little that the animal nearly has no sexual distinction.
The average size of opossums, each males and females, is 2.5ft (76cm) from head to tail. Average weight is eight.8 to 13.2lb (4 to 6kg).
Opossums have fifty teeth. Males tend to possess larger canines compared to females.
The Associate in Nursingimal has an apposable thumb on each their front and hind feet. The thumb makes grasping tree branches and food straightforward for the animal.

Habits And way
forty five fascinating Facts concerning Opossums

Opossums ar well-known for his or her trick of enjoying dead. once vulnerable by a predator or the other massive animal, opossums fall to their aspect and lie on the bottom with their eyes fastened and open. they’ll conjointly extend their tongues to complete the looks of a creature.
An opossum can play dead for as long the threat persists. typically Associate in Nursing opossum could play dead for hours to evade a predator.
The animal’s brain mechanically sends the body into a comatose state as a reaction to fret. this suggests opossums have nearly no management over after they like better to play dead, because it is an automatic response to a trying state of affairs.
Young opossums don’t seem to be smart at enjoying dead and therefore can largely hiss and growl once confronted by a predator.
The Associate in Nursingal glands (glands about to the anus) of an opossum secrete a smelly substance once the animal plays dead. It helps reinforce that the animal is dead.
An opossum is Associate in Nursing arboreal animal and spends most of the time on the trees once within the wild. Opossums about to urban areas could pay substantial time on the bottom because of the supply of scraps and alternative discarded food on the bottom.
Opossums have a prehensile tail, which might curl around atiny low branch and let the animal suspend its body. Opossums don’t sleep whereas hanging from their tail and instead use the tail as an additional hand to grip objects.
An opossum uses its tongue to scrub and groom its fur rather like a cat will. holding spittle on their fur conjointly helps them quiet down throughout the hotter season.
Opossums ar nocturnal animals and hunt throughout the night. Their massive pupils facilitate them see higher within the dark.
Opossums ar proof against the zoonosis virus, Associate in Nursingd it’s terribly rare to seek out an opossum stricken by zoonosis. The low vital sign makes it tough for the virus to multiply, so protective the animal from the sickness.
Opossums ar resistant to the venom of the snakes that ar endemic to a similar surroundings because the opossum (1).
forty five fascinating Facts concerning Opossums

Opossums typically offer birth to twenty babies in a very litter. However, the survival rate of the litter is commonly but five hundredth.
Opossum babies ar tiny: no larger than a honey bee. The babies crawl through the mother’s fur and into the pouch on her belly. They prey on breast milk through the nipples within the pouch and grow.
The female solely has thirteen teats within the pouch. therefore solely the primary thirteen World Health Organization reach the pouch survive whereas the others go. It explains the low survival rate of the litter.
Common opossums have fewer babies per litter in comparison to Virginia opossums. each species have one to 3 litters each year.
Baby opossums also are known as joeys, just like the offsprings of a marsupial.
Female opossums ar usually noticed with their babies on their back. There might be as several as 10 babies on a feminine opossum’s back.
forty five fascinating Facts concerning Opossums

Baby opossums go {after|take advantage of} milk for nearly 3 months after that they pay most of the time outside the pouch. they start ingestion from what their mother grub. Once they’ll forage food severally, they leave to explore new areas.
Opossums ar omnivores, which suggests they eat each plants and animals.
The staple food for Associate in Nursing opossum within the wild consists of tiny rodents, insects, snails, slugs, eggs, frogs, fruits, and vegetables.
Opossums that sleep in captivity will survive on dog or cat chow. Since opossums ar omnivores, rather like humans, it’s quite common to envision captive opossums eat a similar food that their human caretakers eat.
An opossum will hunt snakes, even the toxic ones, for food!
Opossums ar expedient eaters. It makes them glorious scavengers. Associate in Nursing opossum can devour a dead body if it finds one! but, their ability to scavenge makes them an important a part of the system.
Habitat And Endangerment
forty five fascinating Facts concerning Opossums

Opossums typically like aras that are wet and have a moderate temperature.
Opossums usually enter human settlements and prey on garbage. Some think about opossums a tormentor for this behavior. However, these animals conjointly eat rodents and alternative animals that humans think about as pests, that is why they’re usually left alone.
Opossums usually create nests at intervals tree holes. they’ll conjointly use nests left behind by birds or dens left vacant by alternative animals together with alternative opossums. A feminine opossum can line the nest with grass and leaves once she is getting ready to offer birth or already incorporates a litter of babies.
Opossums usually move from one space to a different in search of food. they’ll live for Associate in Nursing extended length in a part that gives overabundant food and move more once the food is depleted.
Opossums ar the sole marsupial animal found within the u. s..
Opossum population is rated ‘Least Concern’ by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), indicating that the animal incorporates a healthy, property population.
Opossum In Society & Culture
forty five fascinating Facts concerning Opossums

‘Playing possum’ may be a phrase given to anyone enjoying dead. it’s usually wont to talk to the behavior of alternative animals’ that conjointly play dead. The phrase even refers to things wherever one doesn’t want to talk to somebody and therefore ignores them or pretends to be asleep, in alternative words ‘play possum.’
In the animated glaze over The Hedge, Associate in Nursing opossum distracts an individual’s by enjoying dead whereas his animal friends steal food from the human’s automobile.
Opossums ar celebrated to voraciously prey on ticks, Associate in Nursing insect that spreads zoonosis among groups of people. A healthy population of opossums in locality|a part|a section} could cut back the unfold of zoonosis within the vicinity (2).
Hunting opossums for pelt and meat was once a typical apply within the u. s.. Opossums ar still searched for food within the southern u. s..
Despite many interactions with humans, opossums rarely attack humans, and there’s seldom ever any human-opossum conflict. however once unfree, Associate in Nursing opossum will bite with its sharp teeth (all fifty of them!).
Opossums ar wild animals and can’t be domesticated despite their ability to measure about to humans and share a similar natural resources.
Opossums don’t typically get aggressive after they encounter humans. They conjointly don’t carry or transmit diseases to humans, that makes it safer to be close to them. However, there should be cases, though few, once humans cause hurt to the animal for no reason or run over it with their vehicles in urban areas.

Opossums ar an important a part of the system despite their overabundant population. they’re nature’s terribly own cleaners, because of their scavenging ability, and should be shielded from the chance of extinction.

Did you ever see Associate in Nursing opossum play dead? Do tell U.S. concerning your expertise within the comment section below.

1. C F Komives et al.; Opossum amide that may neutralize rattler venom is expressed in enteric bacteria coli; Biotechnol Prog (2017)
2. Why you must brake for opossums; Cary Institute of system Studies




Please enter your comment!
Please enter your name here