NationMaster - Encyclopedia: Virginia Opossum

The Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana) is the only marsupial found in North America north of the Rio Grande River. A solitary and nocturnal animal about the size of a domestic cat, it is a successful opportunist and is found throughout North America from coast to coast (introduced to California in 1910), and from Central America and Mexico to southern Canada; it seems to be still expanding its range northward. Its ancestors evolved in South America, but were enabled to invade North America in the Great American Interchange by the formation of the Isthmus of Panama about 3 million years ago. It is often seen near towns, rummaging through garbage cans, or lying by the side of the road, a victim of traffic. Image File history File links Metadata Size of this preview: 730 Ã— 599 pixelsFull resolution (3157 Ã— 2592 pixel, file size: 3. ... The conservation status of a species is an indicator of the likelihood of that species continuing to survive either in the present day or the future. ... Image File history File links Status_iucn2. ... Least Concern (LC) is an IUCN category assigned to extant species or lower taxa which have been evaluated but do not qualify for any other category. ... The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List and Red Data List), created in 1963, is the worlds most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species and can be found here. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is a method by which biologists group and categorize species of organisms. ... For other uses, see Animal (disambiguation). ... Typical Classes See below Chordates (phylum Chordata) are a group of animals that includes the vertebrates, together with several closely related invertebrates. ... Subclasses & Infraclasses Subclass â€ Allotheria* Subclass Prototheria Subclass Theria Infraclass â€ Trituberculata Infraclass Metatheria Infraclass Eutheria Mammals (class Mammalia) are warm-blooded, vertebrate animals characterized by the production of milk in female mammary glands and by the presence of: hair, three middle ear bones used in hearing, and a neocortex region in... Orders Didelphimorphia Paucituberculata Microbiotheria Dasyuromorphia Peramelemorphia Notoryctemorphia Diprotodontia Sparassodonta (extinct) Marsupials are mammals in which the female typically has a pouch (called the marsupium, from which the name Marsupial derives) in which it rears its young through early infancy. ... Genera Several; see text Opossum fur is quite soft, and was once commonly used in the bathtub as a sponge. ... Genera Several; see text The order Didelphimorphia contains the common opossums of the western hemisphere. ... Binomial name Didelphis virginiana (Kerr, 1792) The Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana) is the only marsupial found in North America. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Robert Kerr (1755 - October 11, 1813) was a scientific writer and translator from Scotland. ... Orders Didelphimorphia Paucituberculata Microbiotheria Dasyuromorphia Peramelemorphia Notoryctemorphia Diprotodontia Sparassodonta (extinct) Marsupials are mammals in which the female typically has a pouch (called the marsupium, from which the name Marsupial derives) in which it rears its young through early infancy. ... North America North America is a continent[1] in the Earths northern hemisphere and (chiefly) western hemisphere. ... For other uses, see Rio Grande (disambiguation). ... A bat illustrating nocturnal features. ... Official language(s) English Capital Sacramento Largest city Los Angeles Area Ranked 3rd - Total 158,302 sq mi (410,000 kmÂ²) - Width 250 miles (400 km) - Length 770 miles (1,240 km) - % water 4. ... For other uses, see Central America (disambiguation). ... South America South America is a continent crossed by the equator, with most of its area in the Southern Hemisphere. ... The Great American Interchange was a very important paleozoogeographic event in which land and freshwater animal faunas migrated from Central America to South America and vice versa, as the volcanic Isthmus of Panama rose up from the sea floor and bridged the continents. ... The Isthmus of Panama. ... For the professional wrestler known as Roadkill, see Michael Depoli, for the movie marketed as Roadkill in the UK and Australia, see Joy Ride. ...

Name

The Virginia Opossum is the original animal named "opossum". The word comes from Algonquian wapathemwa, not Greek or Latin, so the plural is opossums. Colloquially, the Virginia Opossum is frequently called simply possum. The name is applied more generally to any of the other marsupials of the Didelphimorphia and Paucituberculata orders, which includes a number of opossum species in South America. This article or section should be merged with Virginia_opossum The word opossum (usually pronounced without the leading O, or with only a very slight schwa) refers either to the Virginia Opossum in particular, or more generally to any of the other marsupials of magnorder Ameridelphia. ... The Algonquian (also Algonkian) languages are a subfamily of Native American languages that includes most of the languages in the Algic language family (others are Wiyot and Yurok of northwestern California). ... Latin is an ancient Indo-European language originally spoken in Latium, the region immediately surrounding Rome. ... Genera Several; see text Opossum fur is quite soft, and was once commonly used in the bathtub as a sponge. ... Genera Caenolestes Lestoros Rhyncholestes The biological order Paucituberculata contains the five surviving species of shrew opossum: small, shrew-like marsupials which are confined to the Andes mountains of South America. ...

The possums of Australia, whose name is derived from a similarity to the Virginia Opossum, are also marsupials, but of the order Diprotodontia. For the Western Hemisphere marsupial, see opossum. ... Suborders Vombatiformes Phalangeriformes Macropodiformes Diprotodontia is a large taxon of about 120 marsupial mammals including the kangaroos, wallabies, possums, Koala, wombats, and many others. ...

Description

It is the largest member of it's genus, family and order and is the largest of the so-called "Opossums". They are typically 15–20 inches (38–51 cm) long and weigh between 9 and 13 pounds (4–6 kg). Their coats are a dull grayish brown, other than on their faces, which are white. Opossums have long, hairless, prehensile tails, which can be used to grab branches and carry small objects. They also have hairless ears and a long, flat nose. Opossums have 50 teeth and opposable, clawless thumbs on their rear limbs. ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 370 KB) Opossum I, PiccoloNamek, took this photograph. ... ImageMetadata File history File links Download high resolution version (1024x768, 370 KB) Opossum I, PiccoloNamek, took this photograph. ... An inch (plural: inches; symbol or abbreviation: in or, sometimes, â€³ - a double prime) is the name of a unit of length in a number of different systems, including English units, Imperial units, and United States customary units. ... A centimetre (American spelling centimeter, symbol cm) is a unit of length that is equal to one hundredth of a metre, the current SI base unit of length. ... The U.S. National Prototype Kilogram, which currently serves as the primary standard for measuring mass in the U.S. It was assigned to the United States in 1889 and is periodically recertified and traceable to the primary international standard, The Kilogram, held at the Bureau International des Poids et... Prehensility is the quality of an organ that has adapted for grasping or holding. ... Dentition is the development of teeth and their arrangement in the mouth. ...

Opossums have thirteen nipples, arranged in a circle of twelve with one in the middle.^[4]^[5] Typical human female nipple and areola. ...

Tracks

Virginia Opossum tracks generally show five finger-like toes in both the fore and hind prints. The hind tracks are unusual and distinctive due to the opossum's opposable thumb, which generally prints at an angle of 90 degrees or greater to the other fingers (sometimes near 180 degrees). Individual adult tracks generally measure 1.875 inches long by 2 inches wide (4.8 × 5.1 cm) for the fore prints and 2.5 inches long by 2.25 inches wide (6.4 × 5.7 cm) for the hind prints. Opossums have claws on all fingers fore and hind except on the two thumbs (in the photograph, claw marks show as small holes just beyond the tip of each finger); these generally show in the tracks but may not. In a soft medium, such as the mud in this photograph, the foot pads will clearly show (these are the deep, darker areas where the fingers and toes meet the rest of the hand or foot, which have been filled with plant debris by wind due to the advanced age of the tracks). Download high resolution version (970x827, 8 KB)Pacing diagram for Virginia Opossum. ... Download high resolution version (970x827, 8 KB)Pacing diagram for Virginia Opossum. ... Download high resolution version (852x1136, 324 KB)Opossum tracks (photo center) and vole tracks (bottom of photo) in mud. ... Download high resolution version (852x1136, 324 KB)Opossum tracks (photo center) and vole tracks (bottom of photo) in mud. ... Missing image Thumbs up In human anatomy, the thumb is the first digit on a hand. ...

The tracks in the photograph were made while the opossum was walking with its typical pacing gait. The four aligned toes on the hind print show the approximate direction of travel. This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... A gait can refer to: a particular way or manner of moving on foot: walking and running are the two basic human gaits; see also gait analysis and Gait (human). ...

In a pacing gait, the limbs on one side of the body are moved simultaneously, just prior to moving both limbs on the other side of the body. This is illustrated in the pacing diagram, which explains why the left-fore and right-hind tracks are generally found together (and vice versa). However, if the opossum were not walking (but running, for example), the prints would fall in a different pattern. Other animals who generally employ a pacing gait are raccoons, bears, skunks, badgers, woodchucks, porcupines and beavers. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Common Raccoon. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... Genera Conepatus Mydaus Mephitis Spilogale Skunks are mammals, usually with black-and-white fur, that are best known for their ability to excrete a strong foul smelling odor. ... Genera Arctonyx Melogale Meles Mellivora Taxidea For other uses, see Badger (disambiguation). ... This article is about the mammal. ... Genera Family Erethizontidae Coendou Sphiggurus Erethizon Echinoprocta Chaetomys Family Hystricidae Atherurus Hystrix Thecurus Trichys This article is about the rodent mammal. ... Species C. canadensis C. fiber Beavers are semi-aquatic rodents native to North America and Europe. ...

When pacing, the opossum's stride generally measures from 7 to 10 inches, or approximately 18 to 25 cm (in the pacing diagram the stride is 8.5 inches, where one grid square is equal to one square inch). To determine the stride of a pacing gait, measure from the tip (just beyond the fingers or toes in the direction of travel, disregarding claw marks) of one set of fore/hind tracks to the tip of the next set. By taking careful stride and track-size measurements, one can usually determine what species of animal created a set of tracks, even when individual track details are vague or obscured.

Behavior

The Virginia Opossum is noted for its reaction to threat, which is to feign death. This is the genesis of the term "playing possum", which is used to describe an attempt to pretend to be dead or injured with intent to deceive. In the case of the opossum, the reaction seems to be quite involuntary, and to be triggered by extreme fear. It should not be taken as an indication of docility, for under serious threat, an opossum will respond ferociously, hissing, screeching, and showing its teeth. But with enough stimulation, the opossum will enter a near coma, which can last up to four hours. It lies on its side, mouth and eyes open, tongue hanging out, emitting both a green fluid from its anus and an odor putrid to most predators. Besides discouraging animals who eat live prey, playing possum also convinces some large animals that the opossum is no threat to their young.

Opossums are omnivorous and eat a wide range of plants and animals such as fruits, insects, and other small animals. Opossums in captivity are known to engage in cannibalism, though this is probably uncommon in the wild.^[6] Placing an injured opossum in a confined space with healthy ones may not be in its best interest. This article or section does not adequately cite its references or sources. ...

Relations

Like raccoons, opossums can be found in urban environments, where they eat pet food, rotten fruit, and various human garbage. Though many humans mistakenly consider opossums to be rats, opossums in fact are not closely related to rodents at all, rarely transmit diseases to humans, and are surprisingly resistant to rabies. It has been suggested that this article or section be merged into Common Raccoon. ... Suborders Sciuromorpha Castorimorpha Myomorpha Anomaluromorpha Hystricomorpha Rodentia is an order of mammals also known as rodents. ...

Although it is found throughout the country, the Virginia Opossum's appearance in folklore and popularity as a food item has tied it closely to the American Southeast. In animation, it is often used to depict uncivilized characters or "hillbillies". The main character in Walt Kelly's long running comic strip Pogo was an opossum. In an attempt to create another icon like the teddy bear, U.S. President William Howard Taft was tied to the character Billy Possum.^[7]^[8] The character did not do well, as public perception of the opossum led to its downfall. Regional definitions vary from source to source. ... Hillbilly is a term referring to people who dwell in remote, rural, mountainous areas. ... Walter Crawford Kelly, Jr (August 25, 1913 - October 18, 1973), known simply as Walt Kelly, was a cartoonist notable for his comic strip Pogo featuring characters that inhabited a portion of the Okefenokee Swamp in Georgia. ... Pogo as drawn by Walt Kelly. ... This article does not cite any references or sources. ... William Howard Taft (September 15, 1857 â€“ March 8, 1930) was an American politician, the twenty-seventh President of the United States, the tenth Chief Justice of the United States, a leader of the progressive conservative wing of the Republican Party in the early 20th century, a pioneer in international arbitration...

References

^ Gardner, Alfred (November 16, 2005). in Wilson, D. E., and Reeder, D. M. (eds): Mammal Species of the World, 3rd edition, Johns Hopkins University Press, 6. ISBN 0-801-88221-4.
^ New World Marsupial Specialist Group (1996). Didelphis virginiana. 2006 IUCN Red List of Threatened Species. IUCN 2006. Retrieved on 12 May 2006. Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern
^ http://www.creativemix.com/bkzoo/opos1.html
^ http://digitalcollections.fiu.edu/wild/transcripts/possums1.htm
^ http://www.awrc.org/Baby%20Opossums.htm
^ Cannibalism in the Opossum. Opossum Society. Last accessed May 07, 2007.
^ Possum Politics. 'Possum Network. Last accessed November 19, 2006.
^ Political Postcards. Cyberbee learning. Last accessed November 19, 2006.

The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species (also known as the IUCN Red List and Red Data List), created in 1963, is the worlds most comprehensive inventory of the global conservation status of plant and animal species and can be found here. ... The World Conservation Union or International Union for the Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) is an international organization dedicated to natural resource conservation. ...

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Description

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