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Virginia Opossum
Order: Didelphimorphia
Family: Dedelphidae
Genus: Dedelphis
Species: virginiana
Range & Habitat
Most of eastern U.S. Southwest to Wyoming, Colorado and New Mexico. Also southern British Columbia south to Baja, California and east into central Idaho. Their habitat included deciduous forests, open woods, brushy wastelands and farmlands.
Reproduction & Growth
Opossums scent-mark, especially during the breeding season, licking
themselves and rubbing the sides of their heads against tree trunks or other objects. After a gestation of 11-13 days, the "living embryos" (4-20), each smaller than a dime, climb up through the hair of the female and enter the vertical opening of her pouch. There, they will attach themselves to a teat and nurse for 2-3 months. With a limited number of teats, not all the young will survive. After this time, the young crawl out of her pouch and cling to her back for an additional 2-3 months until they are ready to make it on their own. As adults, opossums are 15-18 inches in body length and weigh 4-14 pounds.
Diet - Omnivore
In the Wild: Carrion, rodents, fruit, nuts, bird eggs, large insects and
other small animals
In the Zoo: Kitten chow, fruit and mealworms
General Information
The opossum is a transient marsupial, the only marsupial in North America. It's about the size of a house cat with a mix of black under fur with longer white hairs above. Their head and throat are whitish with naked black ears. The have short legs, five toes per foot and their hind feet have an opposable thumb-like toe. They have a long, naked, prehensile tail, used mainly for stability while climbing, not for hanging. The female has a fur-lined vertical abdominal pouch. The opossum is both terrestrial and arboreal and is a very good climber. With its weak nervous system, these animals are prone to fainting, giving rise to the misnomer "playing possum." This fainting behavior makes them extremely vulnerable to predators, including vehicles. More often, it tries to bluff its attacker by hissing, screeching, salivating, opening its mouth wide to show all of its 50 teeth, and sometimes excreting a greenish substance. Life expectancy in the wild is 1-2 years due to predation by dogs, cats, birds of prey and cars. In captivity, these normally gentle creatures can survive up to 10 years.
In the Zoo
We currently have one female Virginia Opossum at the Brandywine Zoo.
Click here to learn about Animal Care.
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