WILDLIFE IN
RYERSONS WOODS
Virginia Opossum
Didelphis virginiana

When you hike through Ryerson Woods, most Opossums are still asleep. They prefer to be alone and wait until dark to leave their nests in the hollows of trees and logs, and roam the woods looking for food.

A lot of people are afraid of opossums, but the opossums are even more afraid! If they feel like they are in danger, they will try to look ferocious, but won't attack; if they feel very threatened, they will 'play possum', going into a trance to appear dead. But don't try to pick one up...they have more teeth than any other American land mammal...50 sharp ones!

Opossums look like rodents with their pointed white faces, gray bodies and hairless tails, but aren't related to rodents at all. They are marsupials, and in fact, are the only marsupials native to North America. Marsupials are mammals that carry and nurse their young in a pouch, like the kangaroos and koalas in Australia. Females may have two litters a year with up to 17 newborns each. The "pinkies" are so tiny, 20 of them can fit in a teaspoon. Not all will survive, but those that do, will open their eyes and climb out of their mother's pouch in 50 to 65 days. For the next month or more, they will travel on their mother's back, learning survival skills as she forages for food. But their lives are short; they will only live another year or so in the wild. Opossums live up to 10 years in captivity, but in the wild, they have many predators...man, cars, dogs, cats, owls, coyotes and other larger wildlife.

Opossums are omnivores, eating a wide variety of food including insects, snails and slugs, mice and rats, frogs, bird eggs, acorns, blackberries, rotted fruit, grass. They even scavange the carrion from deer, rabbits and other dead animals. They have adapted well to residential environments, searching for food in the neighborhood garbage and pet bowls.

More fun facts about opossums:

• Although there are 65 species of opossums, only one is found in North America.
• Opossums have thumbs on all four paws!
• They have prehensile tails, which means they can wrap their tail around a tree limb and use it for climbing or for carrying nest material. But they can't hang from their tails...that is a common misconception.
• They seem to have a high immunity to disease and are more resistant to rabies than any other mammal.
• On learning tests, they test above dogs.
  
  

Read about other animals at Ryerson Woods:
Bats
Beavers
Blue-Spotted Salamander
Crayfish
Deer
Great Blue Heron
Praying Mantis
Red Fox
Red-Tailed Hawk
Sandhill Crane