The Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana) is the only marsupial found in the United States and Canada. Many animals have a difficult time in winter, but these marsupials have adopted various tactics that help them stay alive during long, cold winters. Opossums do...
For the animal kingdom, communication is vital to surviving. Animals do not have a complex vocal communication repertoire as humans do, so they must find other ways to interact with one another. Opossums use a small number of body signals. However, the majority of...
The opossum is the only pouched animal (marsupial) native to North America. These are nocturnal species that are primarily active at night. Opossums are excellent climbers and capable swimmers, allowing them to avoid predators. These nocturnal animals are famous for...
I found another opossum in my garden the other day. It was laying, doing what they do best, playing possum. I didn’t touch it because I didn’t think it was dead. When I went back an hour later, it had gone. Opossums feign death as a mechanism to stop...
Though opossums can live up to four years in captivity, in the wild, they usually only live a year or less. I’ll explore biological factors to habitat conditions that make it difficult for these creatures to survive and examine how humans complicate their lives...
