Life Through Geologic Time

Living Fossils - Opossum

Let’s talk about these little garbage diggers. I, personally, think they are quite cute, when they aren’t all hostile or splattered on the road. 

Opossums, commonly and wrongfully referred to as possums, are omnivorous marsupials of the western hemisphere. The Virginia Opossum (pictured above) was the first to be named an opossum, it’s name comes from the Virginia Algonquian word aposoum, meaning “white dog,” or “white beast/ animal.”  They belong to the Family Didelphidae, in the order Didelphimorphia, which are marsupials that are about the size of a house cat at the largest, and at the smallest, about the size of a mouse. They tend to be partially arboreal and, again, omnivorous, though there are always exceptions. Most have long snouts and a narrow braincase, along with a prominent sagittal crest. They are plantigrade, and have an opposable digit on their hind feet with no claw. They have prehensile tails, quite like lemurs. Like all marsupials, the females have a pouch, and all of their fur is made up of awn hair. 

Pictured Above: Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana)

By Cody Pope (Wikipedia:User:Cody.pope) [CC-BY-SA-2.5 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.5)], via Wikimedia Commons