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The opossum lifespan is unusually short for a mammal of its size, usually only one to two years in the wild and as long as four or more years in captivity. Senescence is rapid. [37] Opossums are moderately sexually dimorphic with males usually being larger, heavier, and having larger canines than females. [36]
Even in captivity, opossums live only about four years. [50] The rapid senescence of opossums is thought to reflect the fact that they have few defenses against predators; given that they would have little prospect of living very long regardless, they are not under selective pressure to develop biochemical mechanisms to enable a long lifespan. [51]
The common opossum (Didelphis marsupialis), also called the southern or black-eared opossum [2] or gambá, and sometimes called a possum, is a marsupial species living from the northeast of Mexico to Bolivia (reaching the coast of the South Pacific Ocean to the central coast of Peru), including Trinidad and Tobago and the Windwards in the Caribbean, [2] where it is called manicou. [3]
Despite how adorable they appear to be in this video, possums do not make the world’s best pets. First of all, they do not live very long. First of all, they do not live very long.
The common ringtail possum weighs between 550 and 1,100 g (19 and 39 oz) and is approximately 30–35 cm (12–14 in) cm long when grown (excluding the tail, which is roughly the same length again). It has grey or black fur with white patches behind the eyes and usually a cream-coloured belly.
They have a variety of sizes, shapes, and fur patterns, and range in size from the 6 cm (2 in) (plus 9 cm (4 in) tail) Kalinowski's mouse opossum to the 55 cm (22 in) (plus 54 cm (21 in) tail) Virginia opossum. Didelphimorphs are primarily found in forests, as well as savannas, shrublands, and grasslands.
COURTESY HDOA The opossum appears to be a male adult or older juvenile, officials said, and measures about 1.5 to 2 feet in length. ... State officials have captured another live opossum after ...
Gray short-tailed opossums are relatively small animals, with a superficial resemblance to voles.In the wild they have head-body length of 12 to 18 cm (4.7 to 7.1 in) and weigh 58 to 95 grams (2.0 to 3.4 oz); males are larger than females. [5]