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It is often simply referred to as an opossum, and in North America it is commonly referred to as a possum [3] (/ ... Like most marsupials, many females have a pouch.
The common ringtail possum carries its young in a pouch, where it develops. Depending on the area, the mating season can take place anywhere between April and December. [5] The majority of the young are born between May and July. The oestrous cycle of ringtail possum lasts 28 days. [6] It is both polyoestrous and polyovular.
The common brushtail possum (Trichosurus vulpecula, from the Greek for "furry tailed" and the Latin for "little fox", previously in the genus Phalangista [4]) is a nocturnal, semiarboreal marsupial of the family Phalangeridae, native to Australia and invasive in New Zealand, and the second-largest of the possums.
Possums give birth after only twelve days of gestation, further allowing their babies to develop in their pouch for another two months. Baby possums later travel on their mother’s back for ...
A pouch is present in most, but not all, species. Many marsupials have a permanent bag, whereas in others the pouch develops during gestation, as with the shrew opossum, where the young are hidden only by skin folds or in the fur of the mother. The arrangement of the pouch is variable to allow the offspring to receive maximum protection.
The pouch is a distinguishing feature of female marsupials and monotremes, [1] [2] [3] and rarely in males as well, such as in the yapok [4] and the extinct thylacine.
The females have a well-developed pouch, and typically raise only one or two young at a time, less than many other possums. The adults are typically solitary, defending territories marked by scent-gland spray, odiferous saliva, urine, or dung. [3] Most possums conserve the functions of the epipubic bones.
It is also the only extant marsupial species in which both sexes have a pouch. The now extinct thylacine, commonly referred to as the Tasmanian tiger, also exhibited this trait. [5] The local name for the water opossum, "yapok", may come from the name of the Oyapock River in French Guiana. [citation needed]