Virginia Opossum: Facts, Playing Dead, Diet and Lifespan

What kind of animal is an opossum?

The opossum is a marsupial, a mammal that gives birth to tiny, undeveloped young that finish growing in a pouch. It belongs to the order Didelphimorphia, a group of more than 100 opossum species that live only in the Americas. Most of them are small and live in the forests of Central and South America.

The Virginia opossum is the largest member of the group and the only one that has spread far into the cold north. Its ancestors came from South America after the land bridge of Panama formed, entering North America less than a million years ago.

The name “opossum” comes from a Powhatan word recorded by English settlers at Jamestown, Virginia, in the early 1600s. Most Americans simply say “possum”, which causes confusion with the unrelated possums of Australia, explained in our guide to possum vs opossum.

Appearance

A Virginia opossum has coarse grayish fur, made of a soft underfur mixed with long, white-tipped guard hairs that give it a frosted look. Some animals are darker, brownish or almost black, especially in the south. The face is long and pointed, white or pale gray, with a pink nose, dark eyes and thin, black, hairless ears.

The tail is long, scaly and nearly naked, with fur only at its base. It is prehensile, meaning it can wrap around and grip, and opossums use it as a fifth limb when climbing and to carry bundles of leaves to their dens. The hind feet have an opposable big toe without a claw, a little like a thumb, which helps the animal hold on to branches.

Open its mouth and you will see 50 teeth, more than any other land mammal in North America. Females have a fur-lined pouch on the belly with 13 teats, usually 12 arranged in a ring and one in the middle.

How big is a Virginia opossum?

Virginia opossums measure about 33–55 cm (13–22 in) from nose to rump, with a tail of 25–54 cm (10–21 in). Most adults weigh 2–3 kg (4.4–6.6 lb), but the full range is about 1.9–6 kg (4.2–13 lb). Males are slightly larger than females.

Size varies with place and season. Opossums in the north tend to be larger than those in the tropics, and studies have found that opossums in urban areas can be heavier than their rural relatives, probably because they find more food around people. Both sexes put on fat in autumn to help them through winter.

Habitat and range

The Virginia opossum lives from Costa Rica north through Mexico and across the eastern and central United States into southern Ontario and southwestern Quebec. It was introduced to California in the early 20th century and has since spread along the Pacific coast as far north as British Columbia. It is largely absent from the dry Great Basin and the high Rocky Mountains.

Before European settlement its northern limit was roughly Ohio, Indiana and Kentucky. Clearing of forests, the removal of large predators, warmer winters and the shelter and food found around buildings have all helped it move steadily north.

Opossums prefer wooded areas close to water, such as streams and swamps, but they also do well on farmland and in suburbs and cities. They den in hollow trees, brush piles, rock crevices, abandoned burrows of other animals, and spaces under decks and sheds. They often switch dens every few days.

Diet

The Virginia opossum is an opportunistic omnivore that eats almost anything it can find. Insects such as beetles, grasshoppers and crickets make up a large share of its animal food, together with earthworms, snails, frogs, small rodents, birds’ eggs, snakes and carrion. In late summer and autumn it eats a lot of fruit, including persimmons, berries and fallen apples, and it helps disperse the seeds of persimmon and pawpaw.

Around homes, opossums visit compost piles, garbage cans and fallen fruit under trees. The full picture is in what do opossums eat?, and the famous claim that they eat thousands of ticks is tested in do opossums eat ticks?.

The Virginia opossum also has unusual resistance to the venom of North American pit vipers such as rattlesnakes, copperheads and cottonmouths. A protein in its blood can neutralize some of the venom’s toxins, which allows it to prey on these snakes now and then.

Behavior

Virginia opossums are solitary and nocturnal, leaving their dens around dusk and returning before dawn. They are good climbers and capable swimmers, though on the ground they are slow walkers that can run only about 7 km/h (4.5 mph). They do not hibernate, but in cold weather they may stay in the den for days at a time, and in the far north many suffer frostbite on their bare ears and tails.

Contrary to an old belief, opossums are not true nomads. Most keep a home range of a few dozen hectares and wander within it, with males covering more ground than females, especially in the breeding season.

When threatened, an opossum first tries to bluff. It opens its mouth wide to show its teeth, hisses, growls and drools. If that fails, especially when the animal is young, it may collapse into a death-like state: it lies on its side with its mouth open and tongue out, and releases a foul-smelling fluid from its anal glands. This reaction, called thanatosis, can last from a minute to several hours. Read more in why do opossums play dead?.

Reproduction and life cycle

Breeding begins in winter and can continue into late summer, with one litter a year in the north and up to three in the south. Males attract females with clicking sounds. Pregnancy is one of the shortest of any mammal, only 12–13 days.

The newborns are about the size of a honeybee and weigh around 0.13–0.2 g. They crawl unaided from the birth canal into the pouch and attach to a teat. Up to 20 or more may be born, but only as many as there are working teats can survive, and the average is about 8 young in the pouch.

The young stay attached in the pouch for roughly 50–70 days. After that they ride on their mother’s back when she forages, clinging to her fur, and stay in the den while she is away. They are weaned at about three to three and a half months old and soon leave to live alone. Females can breed at about six months of age.

How long do Virginia opossums live?

Virginia opossums have very short lives for a mammal of their size. Most wild opossums live only about 1.5–2 years, and few see a third year. In captivity they usually live 3–4 years. They also age quickly, showing signs of old age before they turn two. The reasons are explained in how long do opossums live?.

Predators, threats and conservation

Young and adult opossums are eaten by great horned owls and other large owls, coyotes, foxes, bobcats, domestic dogs and large snakes. Many juveniles die in their first months, and about 60 percent of young that leave the pouch do not survive to adulthood.

Cars are a major cause of death. Opossums are slow, active at night and attracted to roadkill along highways, so they are among the most common mammals killed on North American roads. Hard winters with deep snow also kill many at the northern edge of the range.

The IUCN Red List classifies the Virginia opossum as Least Concern. It is common, widespread and still expanding its range northward. It adapts well to farmland and suburbs, and its large litters let populations recover quickly from losses.

Myths and facts

Myth: Opossums sleep hanging by their tails. Fact: Young opossums can dangle briefly by the tail, but adults are too heavy, and none sleep that way. The tail is used mainly for grip and balance while climbing and for carrying nest material.

Myth: Opossums mate through the nose. Fact: This old folk belief probably came from seeing females lick inside their pouches. Mating is internal, as in other mammals.

Myth: An opossum eats 5,000 ticks a season. Fact: The number comes from an extrapolation of laboratory observations. Studies of what wild opossums actually eat have not found ticks to be part of their diet.

Myth: An opossum hissing with its mouth open has rabies. Fact: The open-mouthed hiss and drooling are a normal bluff display. Rabies is rare in opossums, although not impossible.

Relationship with people

Opossums have lived alongside people for centuries. Captain John Smith described one at Jamestown, saying it had a head like a swine, a tail like a rat and was the size of a cat. In the American South, opossums were long hunted and eaten, and they appear in songs, folklore and the comic strip Pogo. In 2013 North Carolina named the Virginia opossum its official state marsupial.

Today most people meet opossums in their own yards at night. They are harmless to people, rarely cause damage, and help clean up insects, snails, fallen fruit and carrion. The best approach is to admire them from a distance and never handle them. An opossum that seems sick, injured or orphaned is a job for a licensed wildlife rehabilitator, not for a home rescue.