|
North America's only marsupial (an animal with a pouch), the Opossum is about the size of a large house cat. It has a triangular head and long pointed nose. It has a prehensile tail adapted for grasping and wrapping around things like tree limbs. The Opossum is a nocturnal animal and uses it sense of smell to locate food. It is omnivorous and eats just about anything, including anything in your garbage can. It also eats dead animals such as road kill. The mother may have as many as 25 babies, 7 to 8 is the norm. The young are about the size of a navy bean and climb up the mother's fur and into her pouch where they live and suckle for 55-60 days then they climb out onto their mother back for another four to six weeks. |