General Characteristics

Head to Body Length : 33 - 50cm ( 13 -20 inches )

Tail Length : 25 - 54 cm ( 10 -21.5 inches )

Height : 6-9 inches

Weight :   2- 5.5 kg ( 4.5 - 12.0 lbs )

Description : 

The opossum is a  short, dense fur is marbled gray and black animal . The animal that has got  muzzle, eyestripe, and crown are black, and a light band runs across the forehead anterior to the ears. The tail, furred and black at the base, is yellow or white at its end. The ears are naked and rounded. There are sensory facial bristles in tufts above each eye as well as whiskers. The pisiform bone is enlarged on the wrists of the forefeet and resembels a sixth finger. Head and body length ranges from 270 to 400mm and tail length from 310 to 430mm. In addition to dense water-repellent fur, the water opossum has several other adaptations for its aquatic lifestyle. Its hind feet are webbed and are used for propulsion through water. The elongated hallux makes the hind foot symmetrical, which distributes force equally along both borders of the webbing; this increases the efficiency of the water opossum's movement through the water. The forefeet are unwebbed, with long, hairless, tactile fingers and reduced claws.

 Range - Opossums are found throughout most of south and central America, north through eastern North America to Ontario and Canada.

Habitat - They live in wide ranges including temperate deciduous forests, tropical forests, forest grasslands, and regions, mountains, and terrestrial arboreal and semi aquatical.

Diet -   They eat earthworms, fruits, insects, and small vertebrates.

What type of animal is it - They are omnivorous.

Why it is a rare animal - They have prehensile tails, (grasping organs and animals climb or feed in trees). 

Gestation : 13 months

Longevity :  2 years