Opossum 2🐀

Photo: Cody Pope · CC BY-SA 2.5

SpeciesDidelphimorphiaDidelphidae
Mammals

🐀Virginia opossum

Didelphis virginiana Kerr, 1792

Nordamerikansk opossum (Didelphis virginiana) är en art i familjen pungråttor. Den nordamerikanska opossumen är det enda pungdjuret på den nordamerikanska kontinenten. Den tillhör släktet Didelphis vars arter ofta bara kallas opossum. Dessa arter är inte nära släkt med Australiens klätterpungdjur, på engelska benämnda possums och inte heller med opossumråttorna.

Text: Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Videos
8
Photos
2
Measurements
13
vs you
≈ 1/44th of your weight
Also called
Didelphis virginiana, North American Opossum, Virginian Opossum
Conservation status
LCLeast concern

IUCN Red List assessment, 2016.

Population trendIncreasing
Key measurements
Body mass
1.41 kg
Body length
0.4 m
Shoulder height
not recorded
Top speed
not recorded
Bite force
not recorded
Maximum lifespan
7 years
All measurements ↓
Facts and figures

Everything we know about the Virginia opossum

Typical adult figures. Where a value is an estimate rather than a measurement, it says so.

Body mass
1.41 kg
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 3 kgAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Body length
0.4 m
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Brain mass
7.32 g
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Maximum lifespan
7 years
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 6.6 yearsAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Generation length
2.04 years
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Age at maturity
226 days
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Gestation
12 days
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 12 daysAnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Litter size
about 7
COMBINE
Other figures ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Figures vary

  • 15AnAgeAnAge build 15, 2023-07-03 (HAGR)data quality: acceptable
Trophic level
Omnivore
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Activity cycle
Nocturnal
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Home range
0.58 km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Population density
6.15 per km²
COMBINE
Details ↓

Source: COMBINE · v1 (Soria et al. 2021) · CC BY 4.0

Volume l
1.4 Laverage
Details ↓

Body mass at ~1.0 kg/L, the density of vertebrate tissue.

average = a mean across sexes or species in a group.

Not recorded for Virginia opossum yet: shoulder height, top speed, bite force.

Where it sits

Family tree

  1. kingdomAnimalia
  2. ›phylumChordata
  3. ›classMammalia
  4. ›orderDidelphimorphia
  5. ›familyDidelphidae
  6. ›genusDidelphis
  7. ›speciesDidelphis virginiana
Full lineage
  1. classMammals · Mammalia
  2. familyDidelphidae
  3. subfamilyDidelphinae
  4. genusDidelphis
All 13 branches ↓
  1. kingdomMetazoa
  2. phylumChordata
  3. subphylumCraniata
  4. subphylumVertebrata
  5. superclassGnathostomata
  6. superclassSarcopterygii
  7. superclassTetrapoda
  8. classMammals · Mammalia
  9. subclassTheria
  10. orderDidelphimorphia
  11. familyDidelphidae
  12. subfamilyDidelphinae
  13. genusDidelphis
More

More about the Virginia opossum

Closest relative on this site
🐨 Koala — last shared an ancestor ≈ 72 million years ago.
What it eats
carrion43%
insects and other invertebrates29%
leaves, roots and other plants29%
In other languages
Nordopossum (de), Didelphis virginiana (fr), キタオポッサム (ja), Dydelf wirginijski (pl), Oppossum (tr), Опосум віргінський (uk) … and 23 more languages

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