Who Represents the Marsupial Family in the Metroplex?

by Sandy Schriever

The Opossum is native to the United States and Central and South America and like its Australian relative, the Kangaroo, gives birth to its young after the navy-bean sized embryos make their way into their mother’s pouch (the “marsupium”).  The babies then attach themselves to a teat where they remain for about two months and begin to wean.  The word, Opossum, is from the early 17th century Virginian Algonquian word, “aposoum” meaning “white animal.”  Apparently both the native peoples and colonists thought this white-faced animal was quite strange-looking (as do many modern people).  An Opossum, which is about the size of the average house cat, has a long snout, large ears, and mostly gray body.  It also has a long hairless prehensile tail, which comes in handy since it is a nocturnal tree-climber.  At the same time, the tail can make people mistake it for a rat.

Last year, opossums accounted for 8% of the calls made to the Coalition hotline with almost 40% of the calls occurring in April.  A majority of those calls were wildlife emergency calls caused by orphaned babies who dropped off their mothers.  Very rarely do we get “nuisance” calls complaining that an opossum has been destructive in someone’s garden although occasionally, they may build a nest under a deck or other cozy site.

When threatened, an opossum may "play possum" pretending to be dead for up to two hours. More often, the opossum tries to bluff by hissing and opening its mouth wide to show all of its 50 teeth. By nature, this animal is quite shy although it does have a talent for looking formidable and does us service by eating carrion.