Virginia
Opossum
Didelphis virginiana
Our Ambassadors:
Reflection Riding Arboretum and
Nature Center’s opossums were
acquired legally through local
rehabilitators or via confiscation
and placement by TWRA.
Habitat
:
Prefers deciduous woodlands and
can be found in a variety of other
habitats
Size:
Adult opossum are range from 5-12 pounds and 10-16” from nose to rump with a tail that could reach 12”
inches.
Eating Habits:
Opossums are highly omnivorous eating small insects, worms, fruit, vegetables, live animals and dead animals
among other things. They are the nature’s garbage men.
Lifespan
:
Wild opossums usually don’t live past two years, but captive opossums can live up to 4 years.
Reproduction:
Opossums are North America’s only marsupial giving birth to embryonic young. Opossums can give birth up to
54 babies, but on average only the first 13 who travel to the pouch and latch onto a teat survive. They are
weaned and on their own after approximately 4 months of age. They reach sexual maturity between 6-9
months of age and can bare 2 litters in a year.
Interesting Facts:
• When opossums feel threatened, a physiological
reaction occurs and the opossums’ appear to have
fainted, thus the term “playing dead”. The body
temperature can drop 20 degrees and their heart rate can
slow to 4-5 beats per minute; a smelly, green liquid oozes
from a gland at the base of their tail. This can last from 2
minutes to 2 hours and they wake up and walk off after
the danger has passed.
• They are the only animal in North America other than
humans that have opposable thumbs on their rear feet
which help them climb. Additionally, they are the only
animal in North America that has a semi-prehensile tail.
• They have 50 teeth which the most of any land
mammal in the world.
• Opossum fossils have been dated back 70 million
years, during the time of the dinosaurs!
Resources:
• Animal Diversity: Virginia Opossum
• Opossum Society of the United States
• US Fish & Wildlife: Tennessee Amphibians, Fish, Mammals and Reptiles List 2007