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Virginia Opossum — printable fact sheet
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Virginia Opossum
Didelphis virginiana
The Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) is the only marsupial north of Mexico, and it is a bundle of physiological oddities. It has 50 teeth, more than any other North American land mammal, an opposable thumb on each hind foot, and a prehensile tail that adults use for carry…
Did you know?
- Despite being marsupials, female Virginia opossums can give birth to as many as 25 tiny young at once, but only a few survive to develop fully in the pouch.
- Playing dead is an involuntary catatonic collapse, not a performance, and the animal cannot end it at will. Opossums carry a partial immunity to pit viper venom, and the protein responsible is being studied as a universal antivenom. Their body temperature is too low for rabies to establish easily, so they very rarely carry it. The popular claim that a single opossum eats thousands of ticks a season rests on one badly designed experiment and is not supported by field data.
What I learned
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