The Virginia opossum is one of North America's most misunderstood animals — a tick-eating, disease-resistant marsupial that's been around since the dinosaurs' era.
Here are the verified facts.
The Virginia opossum is the only marsupial (pouched mammal) native to the United States and Canada.
Opossums carry and nurse their tiny young in a pouch, then the babies ride on the mother's back.
'Playing possum' is an involuntary response: when severely threatened, an opossum can collapse into a death-like state, sometimes for hours.
Opossums have a very low body temperature, which makes them poor hosts for the rabies virus, so they rarely carry it.
They eat large numbers of ticks, along with insects, rodents, carrion, and fallen fruit, acting as natural pest control.
Opossums have 50 teeth, more than any other North American land mammal.
They have a prehensile tail that helps with balance and carrying nesting material, though adults are too heavy to hang by it for long.
Opossums have opposable 'thumbs' on their hind feet for gripping branches.
They show partial resistance to snake venom, and compounds from opossums are studied for antivenom research.
Opossums are opportunistic omnivores and clever foragers with a good memory for finding food.
A baby opossum is called a joey, like a kangaroo's.
Opossums are generally solitary and nomadic, rarely staying in one den for long.
They are one of the oldest surviving mammal lineages, little changed for tens of millions of years.
Despite the myth, opossums do not hang upside down by their tails to sleep.
Their average lifespan is short, often only 1-2 years in the wild, partly due to many predators.
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