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North America's Marsupial
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19723 |
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Section : |
NATURAL SCIENCE
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| Issue
Date : |
9 / 1991 |
1,221 Words |
| Author
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Dwight G. Smith
Dwight G. Smith is professor and chairman of the biology
department at Southern Connecticut State University in New
Haven. His latest book, Plants, was released this summer by
Pearson Publishing Company of Boston. |
Nowadays things that "go bump in the night" are more often a nuisance than a fright, especially when they happen to be the neighborhood opossum sifting through the contents of a garbage can while on its nightly dinner prowl. The opossum's evening circuit can also include gardens, garages, litter piles, roadways and any other likely sources of food within its territory. For the opossum food translates into almost anything--worms, grubs, maggots, insects, mushrooms, fruits, vegetables, frogs, snakes, small mammals, birds, carrion, and table scraps are all eagerly sought and avidly consumed. It is this blatant dietary opportunism that explains why opossums flourish in human habitats at a time when many other animals are disappearing.
The opossum, Didelphis virginiana, is unique in being North America's sole representative of the pouched animals, the marsupials. Originally from South America the opossum invaded North America over a period of several thousand years and is now one of our most successful mammals.
"An opassom hath a head like a Swine, & a taile of a Rat, and is of Bignes of a Cat. Under her belly shee hath a bagge, wherein shee lodgeth, carrieth, and sucketh her young" is how Capt. John Smith of the Virginia Colony described the opossum in 1612. For us, the opossum is instantly recognizable by its scruffy fur, naked ears, and long naked tail. Its outercoat of long white hair overlies an underfur of shorter, black-tipped hair, giving the opossum a grizzled gray-white appearance. When first seen scampering across the yard or a roadway, the opossum looks rather like a grizzled house cat running on short legs. Large, leathery ears, a sharply pointed snout, and a long, scaly prehensile tail complete its primitive, prehistoric look. An opossum generally averages about 30 inches in length including a foot-long tail. Weight varies with sex, season, and food supply, but a full grown opossum may weigh nearly 10 pounds and some fat, old males approach 15 pounds.
Shy, retiring, and nocturnal, opossums are rarely seen but are surprisingly widespread. The numerous carcasses along roadways provide mute evidence of their abundance and distribution. The opossum ranges widely over much of the United States and also in parts of southern Canada. They are abundant in South and Central America. Their northern and elevational distribution is apparently restricted because of their marked intolerance of cold and snowy winters. The cracked and flaking ears and tails often seen on the older opossums are caused by frostbite as these appendages are poorly
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