How Long Do Opossums Live? Why Opossums Die So Young

How long do opossums live in the wild?

The Virginia opossum, North America’s only marsupial north of Mexico, has one of the shortest lifespans of any mammal its size. Field studies show that most wild opossums die before they are two years old, and the longest-lived wild animals reach only about two and a half years.

Many never get close to that. A female may give birth to 20 or more young, but most do not survive the first months. According to studies summarized by Animal Diversity Web, about 60 percent of young opossums that make it through the pouch stage die soon after they become independent.

Females usually stop breeding at about two years old. By then most of their generation is already gone.

How long do opossums live in captivity?

In zoos and wildlife centers, where food is reliable and there are no predators or traffic, Virginia opossums usually live 3 to 4 years. A few have been reported living 8 to 10 years, but such ages are exceptional and not well documented.

Even in comfortable captivity, opossums age quickly. By their second or third year they often lose weight and condition and show many of the signs of old age seen in much older mammals. This tells scientists that the short lifespan is not only caused by danger in the wild. It is also built into the opossum’s biology.

What kills wild opossums?

Predators kill many opossums, especially young ones. Great horned owls, coyotes, red foxes, bobcats, domestic dogs and large snakes all take opossums. Their main defenses, bluffing with an open mouth and playing dead, do not always work, as explained in why do opossums play dead?.

Cars are another major cause of death. Opossums are slow, active at night and attracted to carrion and scraps along roads, so they are among the mammals most often killed by traffic in North America. Males wandering widely in search of mates, and females slowed down by heavy young, are at extra risk in the breeding season.

Winter is a third danger. The Virginia opossum evolved in the tropics and has thin fur and bare ears and tail. At the northern edge of its range, long cold spells and deep snow make food hard to find, and many adults die in the cold months, often with frostbite on their ears and tail.

Why do opossums age so fast?

Biologists explain the opossum’s short life with the evolutionary theory of aging. In a species where most individuals are killed young by predators, accidents or weather, natural selection favors animals that grow up fast and breed early. Genes that would help an animal stay healthy into old age give little advantage if almost no one lives that long.

The opossum fits this pattern. It reaches breeding age at about 6 to 8 months, has one of the shortest pregnancies of any mammal at 12 to 13 days, and raises large litters. It puts its energy into reproduction rather than long-term body repair.

A famous test of this idea came from Sapelo Island, off the coast of Georgia. In the early 1990s, biologist Steven Austad compared island opossums, which had lived for thousands of years without major mammal predators, with opossums on the mainland. The island animals aged more slowly and lived longer, with lifespans up to about half again as long. With fewer outside dangers, slower aging had paid off over many generations.

How do opossums survive with such short lives?

Opossums make up for their short lives with fast, abundant breeding. In the south, a female can raise up to three litters a year, and in the north usually one. Each litter can start with 20 or more newborns, each the size of a honeybee, though at most 13 can attach to the teats in the pouch.

The young stay in the pouch for about two months, then ride on their mother’s back and become independent at around three to four months. Females can breed in their first year. Because of this high turnover, opossum populations recover quickly from losses and are still spreading northward.

A flexible diet helps too. Opossums eat insects, fruit, carrion, eggs and garbage, so they can find food almost anywhere, as described in what do opossums eat?.

How does that compare with other animals?

Size usually predicts lifespan in mammals, with bigger animals living longer, but opossums break the rule. Wild mammals of similar size, such as raccoons and groundhogs, can live several years in the wild and well over a decade in captivity. Many marsupials, including the koala, also live much longer than opossums.

At the other end of the scale are animals that live for centuries, featured in our list of longest-living animals. The opossum is a reminder that a successful species does not need long-lived individuals, just a fast and reliable way of producing the next generation.