Opossum
Pictures

North American Opossum with winter coat.

Young Opossum looking for food

Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana) in a juniper tree in northeastern Ohio.

A gray four-eyed opposum (Philander opossum) sits on a wooden beam under a building's roof in the Tortuguero National Park, Costa Rica. These silver animals have a spot of white fur above each eye.

Opossums clean up waste, bacteria, and ticks from the environment.

Opossums Play Dead

A Virginia Opossum on a fence at night. The Virginia (or common) opossum is the only North American marsupial. A marsupial is a mammal that has a pouch where it carries its young.

Playing dead is an involuntary response on the part of the opossum. The stress of the confrontation facing the opossum causes him to go into shock.

Opossums are opportunistic omnivores that eat a wide variety of animal and plant matter.

Opossums 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.

Opossums often sleep during the day in an abandoned burrow or hollow tree.

Opossum are the Only Known North American Marsupial. They can eat ticks by the thousands.