Interesting Facts About Possums & Opossums in this blog. Opossums are omnivores, which means they eat both plants and animals. Their body is covered with white-grayish fur. They’re often thought of as dimwitted, dirty creatures whose most impressive trick is acting like roadkill. Even if possums aren’t the cutest creatures in the forest, they should be a welcome addition to your backyard. Joeys grow to full maturity about eight months after they're born. 1. Throughout the 1970s prices for possum skins were good. Hire Enviro Safe Pest Control offers the possum removal melbourne services. The opportunistic critter can eat anything and hisses to defend itself Check out these 10 fun facts about possums. The way it gives birth and raises its young isn’t the only thing that’s interesting about the opossum's reproductive life. The animals are immune to the venom of nearly every type of snake found in their native range, the one exception being the coral snake. Their body is covered with white-grayish fur. Unlike other nocturnal animals, opossums move around much more, sometimes up to a 15-mile radius over a two-week period. It is an introduced species in New Zealand. Once possum populations got very high, trappers began to make a good living from hunting them. Opossum Facts for Kids. 13 Interesting Facts About Opossums 1. Browse our claw-some cat facts & trivia to see what makes cats so special. Opossums are one of a handful of animals with prehensile tails. Researchers have been trying to harvest possums’ antivenom powers for decades. Opossums don't choose to play dead; it's an aic response to feeling threatened. Interesting facts about opossums tell more about these animals. Unlike most other wild animals, possums are … 45 Interesting Facts About Opossums Opossums are adorable wild creatures found in North and South America. Here are five things you probably didn't know about the 'possum. The American possum is actually called an "opossum." When the animal experiences intense fear in the face of danger, it seizes up and flops to the ground where it can remain for hours staring blankly ahead and sticking out its tongue. Additionally, females have a pouch on their stomach for holding newborns. If looks could kill, opossums would be some of the fiercest predators. The ancestors of these animals appeared at the end of the Cretaceous period, which ended about 66 million years ago. So what exactly are these cute fur balls? The ringtail possum (Pseudocheirus peregrinus) or a common ringtail possum lives in Australia.. The smelly substance it secretes from its anus is just one more reason for foxes and bobcats to look for their dinner elsewhere. Possums largely lack sweat glands, and this behavior is believed to help them cool down. Opossums can play dead for up to four hours to avoid capture or. Females have two vaginal tracts and two uteri, and males in turn have a forked or bifurcated penis. Fun possum facts There are 23 possum species in Australia. One of the opossum’s most recognizable features is its pair of opaque eyes. It is the second-largest of the possums, weighing 2.6 to 9.9 pounds (1.2 to 4.5 kilograms). Possums feed mainly on leaves, bark, fungi, ferns, fruits, buds and flowers. [1] Opossums have the most teeth of any North American mammal—a set of 50! Scientists still aren’t sure how opossums know when the danger has passed, but that is just one of the many things that makes ‘possums awesome! Key Facts & Information Habitat, Anatomy, and Life Cycle Like other marsupials, mother possums give birth to tiny, underdeveloped offspring (called joeys) that immediately crawl into a pouch where they live and nurse during their first months of life. They present a far less health risk than do dogs or cats. Playing dead can last up to six hours, according to ADW. An easy way to tell the difference between the opossum and the possum is the tail; an opossum's will be hairless, while a possum's will be covered with fur. The Humane Society of the United States. Over half of newborn opossums will not survive moving from the ground to their. According to the National Wildlife Federation, a single possum consumes 5000 of the parasites per tick season. Opossums are the only marsupials that are native to North America. A picture of a possum playing dead doesn’t really do it justice. The Only Known North American Marsupial Possums Possums are a suborder of 70 tree-living marsupial species native to Australia and the Indonesian islands of New Guinea and Sulawesi. Opossums have a lifespan of two to four years. A Fast Life and Success That Starts in the Pouch. [1] The scientific name for the opossum is Didelphia virginiana. OPOSSUMS AND POSSUMS AREN’T THE SAME ANIMAL. Consider these opossum facts before enticing them to stay: As scavengers, opossums will gladly consume pet food left outdoors. An opossum's tail makes up 1/3 of its body length. Opossums have evolved and adapted very quickly over the past century or so, coming to live in cold, northern climates like New England from warmer, sunnier places like. Male opossums are called jacks. Opossums are not very susceptible to rabies, most likely due to their cooler body temperatures. A few years ago, a team of scientists made progress on this front when they recreated a peptide found in possums and and found that mice given the peptide and rattlesnake venom were successfully protected from the venom’s harmful effects. of Pathology of Anatomical Sciences, School of Medicine, University of Missouri, 2006. When opossums play dead, they also secrete a bad smell and foam at the mouth to make themselves appear like a real dead animal to predators. The most common brushtail possum was first introduced to New Zealand and Australia for the fur trade. While possums aren’t totally immune to rabies (a few cases have been documented), finding a specimen with the disease is extremely unlikely. The possum looks like a cute cross between a squirrel and a chinchilla and it belongs to a different order than the North American mammal that shares (most of) its name. 10 Surprising Facts About Possums That Prove They Aren’t Pests 1. The name "possum" is a misnomer. We have our opossum, a living piece of the Cretaceous. Opossums get a lot of hate. The Opossum: Its Amazing Story. Marsupials like possums have a lower body temperature than the placental mammals that dominate North America—in other words, their bodies don’t provide a suitable environment for the virus. It has a bu… They have excellent memories and return night after night to finish up what Fido or kitty leave behind. The brushtail possum is probably the most common marsupial in Australia. OTHER COOL OPOSSUM FACTS: They have 50 teeth (the most of any other mammal)! Opossums that live in captivity can survive on dog or cat food. The common brushtail possum is a marsupial found in Australia. 13 Facts About Opossums 1. Accessed: March 30, 2019. Opossum Facts The opossum is a successful scavenger, thanks to its adaptability and excellent immune system. The Living Fossil The opossum is the Earth's oldest surviving mammal. They're actually called "opossums" Imgur/RoadTripped. Are Possums Nocturnal? Read on for more opossum facts. Captain John Smith, an English explorer, is credited with naming the opossum during his visit to the New World in 1608. Among the most well known of their respective types are the Virginia opossum and the brushtail possum. Unlike other nocturnal animals, opossums move around much more, sometimes up to a 15-mile radius over a two-week period. A typical giant panda spends over half of its day eating. Although the opossum is commonly called a possum, some marsupials in the Eastern Hemisphere are also called possums (suborder Phalangeriformes). Opossums grow up to 40 inches in length, about the size of a house cat. Of the 100+ opossum species in the world, the most common and recognizable in the United States is the Virginia opossum. If you’re lucky enough to see one, say hello. These appendages are sometimes used as an extra arm: They can carry grass and leaves for building nests or grip the sides of trees to provide extra stability while climbing. Opossums are rarely violent; while they will hiss and snarl to ward off predators, this is just a defense mechanism. San Diego Zoo: Animal & Plants. They also eat land snails, carrion and native birds, invertebrates and eggs. They are closely related to the Kangaroo and Koala. They were present on the Earth at the same time when dinosaurs lived. © 2020 Fact Retriever LLC. Opossum refers to the most ancient marsupial mammal. 4"Reproduction—Life Cycle." In today's video we cover some interesting fun facts about them. Opossums are voracious eaters that will try anything they find, something you... 2. 10. Possums have no control over when they play dead or for how long they do it: The comatose-like state is an involuntary reaction triggered by stress. Accessed: March 30, 2019. Common Brushtail Possum Facts! Unlike other mammals that carry ticks, and therefore spread Lyme Disease, possums gobble up 90 percent of the ticks that attach to them. Opossums really do play dead. In rare occasions it can be black, brown or albino colored. But they take cleanliness seriously: The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife writes that possums, like housecats, use their tongue and paws to groom themselves frequently and thoroughly. Like other marsupials, opossums have thumbs, called an opposable hallux, on their paws. The truth is just the opposite: Opossums are smarter, cleaner, and more beneficial to humans than many of their woodland neighbors. Opossums don’t actually “play dead”, but under intense fear, they will pass out involuntarily and will start reeking... 3. They're not from Guinea. Marsupials—mammals that carry and nurse their young in pouches—are... 3. Opossums have a long, pointed face with round, hairless ears and a rat-like tail. Browse through our fun and interesting guinea pigs facts to find out! It’s an impressive defensive mechanism, but its effectiveness can’t be chalked up to the possum’s acting skills. They will not harm people or pets. Possums numbers reached their highest point in the 1980s when there were 50—70 million possums in New Zealand. Accessed: March 30, 2019. To get the full experience, you need to be standing over to it to smell the putrid odor it emits when pretending to be a corpse. Opossum Facts: 1. Opossums got their name from the word "aposoum," a term that means "white beast" in the language of the Algonquin, a Native American tribe in the northeast United States. Perhaps the most famous characteristic of the opossum is its tendency to play dead in front of predators. One explanation they came up with was that male opossums impregnated females through the nose. Opossums have impressive memories—at least when it comes to food. Baby opossums, called joeys, are only about the size of a honeybee when they are born. 1Angier, Natalie. Since then, their appearance has not changed much. New York Times, June 13, 2011. An opossum can eat up to 5,000 ticks a year. It is an arboreal species. The exaggerated pupil dilation is thought to help the nocturnal animals see after the sun goes down. 2Krause, William J., and Winifred A. Krause. They will flop down and be very still with their tongue hanging out to trick predators. Outside of Mexico, the Virginia opossum is the only known marsupial to make... 3. It also has the added effect of rendering them odorless (when they’re not secreting stinky predator-repellant, that is). Call Enviro Safe Pest Control 1300 997 272 The Brushtail Possum changes in colour and size depending on where they live. While most animals look at a snake and see danger, a possum sees its next meal. Opossums range in size from that of a small mouse to the size of a large housecat. Thank you for listening. Usually they have 53 to 90 centimeters (21 to 35 inches) in length (including tail) and weigh between 1.8 and 6.8 kilograms (4 and 15 pounds). Female opossums are called jills. In North America, opossum and possum describe the same thing, but in... 2. They keep urban areas free from ticks and other pests, which keeps communities cleaner and healthier. It was long assumed that opossums like to keep to themselves, but a study published in the journal Biology Letters suggests they have a social side. Only once they’ve grown big and strong enough do they venture out, transitioning between their mother’s back and the warmth of the pouch until they mature into adults. We get it; these critters make Norwegian rats look like beauty-pageant winners. Opossum Facts: 10 Things You Never Knew About The Marsupial. The opportunistic critter can eat anything and hisses to defend itself All Gods CreaturesCute CreaturesBeautiful CreaturesAnimals BeautifulAnimals AmazingBeautiful ImagesAnimals And PetsBaby AnimalsFunny Animals Sometimes this trick will allow opossums to escape. Scientists estimate that a single opossum can... 2. 3"Opossum: Didelphis virginiana." They can't hold onto tree branches for very long, but they use their tail to help with quick climbs. Fact 5 They have 50 teeth which is … Their tails are prehensile and can be used to help them climb and hold onto tree branches. Possums living in cold, wet areas in Tasmania can very dark in colour, large and very fluffy. They Rarely Have Rabies Opossums gestate for less than two weeks before being born. Columbia, MO: Dept. The oft-maligned marsupial definitely suffers from an image problem — it is frequently perceived more as a giant, dirty, scavenging rat rather than a cute creature of the wild. Baby possums can even use their tails to hang from branches upside down as they’re often depicted doing in cartoons. These thumbs are on the back feet as well as on the front feet. [1] Opossums have a natural tolerance for snake venom. Good thing they're pretty harmless to humans! They're not pigs. They're Not Aggressive The scientists suspect that male and female possums living in the wild may even build nests together as a way to trigger the female’s reproductive hormones. Ruff Day? 6"What to Do about Opossums." Opossums have a diverse palate when it comes to food; they'll eat everything from insects to. That said, this humble and homely little mammal is actually far more interesting than you'd think. Opossums communicate with each other through scent glands; males emit a special odor in order to begin mating with females, and glands in a female's pouch help baby joeys find their way inside after birth. Below, explore facts about the Virginia opossum including its habits and how to identify damage. All rights reserved. Opossums have five toes on each foot and a tail with no fur. It is indigenous to Australia and is the size of a domestic cat and the second biggest possum in Australia. The largest species of possum is the cuscus. In one case, 13 white-eared opossums of various age groups were cohabiting the same space. Despite the potential for confusion, possum is accepted as the shortened version of opossum in this part of the world (and if you see the word possum in this list, you can assume it’s referring to the animal from the Americas). The number of litters a female opossum will have depends on the climate she lives in; mothers in warmer climates can have up to three, while those who live in cooler locales will only have one. Opossums, which include the roughly 100 species in the order Didelphimorphia, are some of the most misunderstood animals in the Americas. For more videos about wildlife please subscribe :)Royalty free content brought from pond5.com and/or bigstockphoto.com Feb 18, 2020 - Opossums are adorable wild creatures found in North and South America. Opossums are sometimes called "Nature's Little Sanitation Engineers," since they often eat dead things and, by doing so, rid their habitats of disease. Adult possums reach an average length of 30 – 35 cm and weigh 550 – 1100 grams. The Common Brushtail Possum (Trichosurus vulpecular, from Greek and Latin, which means “furry tailed little fox”) is a nocturnal, semi-tree dwelling marsupial in the Phalangeridae family. Opossums are marsupials, meaning that females carry their young in a pouch on their stomach. Marsupials first evolved during the age of the dinosaurs, and fossil evidence suggests that opossums have very similar features to those earliest pouch-havers. The staple food for an opossum in the wild consists of small rodents, insects, snails, slugs, eggs, frogs, fruits, and vegetables. Both are small to medium sized, omnivorous marsupials, but the similarities end there. Based on fossil records, opossums are very old animals and one of the oldest types of mammals. Accessed: March 30, 2019. While opossums may seem like vermin, they actually make great neighbors. They can also recall the smell of toxic substances up to a year after trying them. See the fact file below for more information on the possums or alternatively, you can download our 24-page Possum worksheet pack to utilise within the classroom or home environment. Thanks to their whole acting-and-smelling-like-a-corpse routine, opossums aren’t known as the most sanitary animals in nature. Opossums … Possums & opossums are cute nocturnal creatures found in many places around the world. The word "opossum" comes from the Powhatan or Algonquian name for the animal, which roughly translates as "white dog." POPULAR POSTS. Opossums have the most teeth of any North American mammal—a set of 50! In 1981, the best year for trappers, 3.2 million skins were exported. Learn more about the beloved black and white omnivore with interesting and cute panda facts. Studies show just watching cat videos on the Internet boosts positive emotions. Opossums and T. Rexes were prehistoric neighbors. Their bodies are covered in white or grayish hair. Relax with our fun dog facts to learn how these adorable animals became our best friends and if they really love us as much as we love them. Possums take advantage of this adaptation by chowing down on snakes on a regular basis. 5"What's the Difference between 'Possum' and 'Opossum'?" That means the more possums that are in your area, the fewer ticks you’ll encounter. Researchers at the Federal University of Pernambuco in Recife, Brazil observed some possums in captivity sharing dens even if they weren’t mates. Opossums Kill Ticks by the Thousands Opossum eyes do have whites and irises, but because their pupils are so large, their eyes appear completely black from a distance. Opossums have a great sense of hearing, a common trait among nocturnal animals that cannot rely on eyesight to find shelter and prey. Male opossums will often use clicking sounds to attract females during mating season. Fast Facts: Opossum. 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