It has a slow, side-to-side gait as it forages for food, usually at night.Ĭool and Common. The Virginia opossum has a cat-sized body grey or whitish fur with a white face long pointy snout round dark eyes and hairless ears four paws long, hairless tail spanning over 1/3 of its total body length. They are marsupials, like kangaroos and koalas. Opossums are small- to medium-sized, pouched (most of them) mammals, with pointed snouts and nearly hairless, prehensile tails. If you find an injured opossum, it is important to contact your local wildlife rehabilitator, with trained professionals who can help. Worse yet, sometimes the opossum will become lame as it grows, which is likely due to a diet-induced disorder called metabolic bone disease, or rickets. As the Opossum Society of the United States points out, it is illegal in most states to keep opossums as pets. This will likely not bode well for the opossum. Since opossums have adapted nicely to living among human habitation, sometimes young opossums get “rescued” by the well-intentioned public and raised as a pet. In minutes or hours, the opossum will likely regain consciousness and escape quietly on its own. The best thing to do upon finding an injured or seemingly dead opossum is to leave it in a quiet place with a clear exit path. Many injured opossums have been killed by well-meaning people who find a catatonic opossum and assume the worst. It’s more like fainting from fright than pulling a prank on a potential predator. Although the word “play” suggests a conscious act, this catatonic defense mechanism is actually a completely involuntary and automatic physiological response to danger. The lips are drawn back, teeth are bared, saliva foams around the mouth, and a foul-smelling fluid is secreted from the anal glands. "Playing Possum." When threatened or harmed by dogs, foxes, bobcats, or other predators, opossums may "play possum," appearing to be sick or dead. The word comes from the Algonquin name “aposoum” which means “white beast.” In the late 1700s, Sir Joseph Banks, a naturalist and explorer, likened the furry tree-dwelling marsupials he saw in Australia to “an animal of the Opossum tribe.” Adding to the confusion, the name was later shortened to “possum.” But the opossum and possum are two very different arboreal marsupial families. The story goes that the name “opossum” was first used in western culture by Captain John Smith in 1608. While opossums are commonly referred to as "possums," true possums belong to a separate order of marsupials, native to Australia and New Guinea. This Didelphidae family of marsupials is native to the New World the Virginia opossum Didelphis virginiana is the only marsupial native to North America. There are over 100 different opossum species, ranging in size from the pocket-sized pygmy opossum to the domestic cat-sized Virginia opossum. Often misunderstood and persecuted by many, opossums actually help keep the environment healthy and tidy by eating dead stuff and lots of disease-carrying ticks.
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