Opossum

• Average length 25-40 in.
• Average weight 9-13 lbs.
• Average litter size 8-18 that develop in the mothers pouch.
• New born opossum is one half inch in length, hairless pink skinned and blind.
• They crawl through their mothers’ fur to the pouch where they grow rapidly for 8-9 weeks.
• Opossum have on average two litters per year.
• They eat fruit, nuts, vegetables, meat, eggs, insects and carrion.
• Tennessee’s only marsupial or pouched animal.
• Highly adaptable and prefer farming areas, woodlands and stream banks.
• Has a prehensile tail that aids in its ability to climb.
• When cornered it may fake its death or “play possum”.
• Long coarse grayish white fur and scaly tail.
• Usually solitary.
• Toes have claws except for the last one on each hind foot.
• This toe is used like a thumb for grasping.
• Have fifty teeth.