The Opossum is the only marsupial species on the North American continent where the young are born prematurely and subsequently brought to life in their mother’s pouch. She proceeds to wean them until they are old enough to be on their own. The Opossum is also the only mammal with a prehensile tail that can be used for grasping things like a human hand. Young Opossums sometimes hang by their tails, but when they are grown up, they are too heavy for hanging.
As in my illustration, the Opossum is the only mammal that has four fingers that are opposable on each of the hind feet that works like a human thumb to make it possible to pick up things like hands much better than other animals. The Opossum grows up to be as big as a full-grown cat that resembles a silver-colored rat with its naked ears and silver-colored fur coat. Their faces are almost pure white with four whiskers and a pink nose. The eyes look like two black shoe buttons.
The average adult grows to be about 24 to 26 inches long, including the tail, and usually weighs 6 to 12 pounds. It is usually a passive animal but can look ferocious when it displays all 50 teeth, while drooling and hissing at any person near it. They are also normally nocturnal by habit but can be comfortable in daylight when searching for food. Their ideal habitat for feeding is either woodland or farmland or even suburban neighborhoods with water nearby.
Their diet is omnivorous in the country or city by eating whatever they can catch including rats, mice, moles, slugs, snails, shrews, worms, beetles, ants, grasshoppers, crickets, frogs, garbage, fruit, corn, berries and even anything that looks like roadkill bodies. Their own roadkill during the darkness adds up to thousands of casualty deaths per year in even a small neighborhood. Any Opossum, when it sees roadkill during the night, tends to freeze in the headlights of an automobile.
Perhaps the most intriguing weakness is the sudden ability to play dead when they feel they are in danger. They quickly sink to the ground while their eyes gloss over, baring their teeth and lolling their tongue out of their mouth to one side. They rarely cause problems for people but often frighten almost anyone by appearing suddenly dead. They are more beneficial as scavengers than for any damage they might possibly do. A neighborhood with Opossums tends to be peaceful and safer than one without them.
By George B. Emmons
