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Brushtail possums compete with each other and other animals for den spaces, and this contributes to their mortality. This is likely another reason why brushtail possum population densities are smaller in Australia than in New Zealand. [16] Brushtail possums are usually not aggressive towards each other and usually just stare with erect ears. [16]
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.
The largest difference between the opossum and non-marsupial mammals is the bifurcated penis of the male and bifurcated vagina of the female (the source of the term didelphimorph, from the Greek didelphys, meaning "double-wombed"). [38] Opossum spermatozoa exhibit sperm-pairing, forming conjugate pairs in the epididymis.
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]
Unique among marsupials, they have shifted the hypaxial muscles from the epipubic to the pelvis, much like in placental mammals, meaning that their breathing cycle is more similar to the latter than to that of other non-eutherian mammals. [2] In general, they are more terrestrially oriented than other possums, and in some ways might parallel ...
Around the turn of the 20th century, the opossum was the subject of numerous songs, including "Carve dat Possum", a minstrel song written in 1875 by Sam Lucas. [ 66 ] Although it is widely distributed in the United States, the Virginia opossum's appearance in folklore and popularity as a food item has tied it closely to the American Southeast .
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]
Possums are vectors of bovine tuberculosis (Mycobacterium bovis), which is a major threat to the dairy, beef, and deer farming industries. [8] The disease is endemic in possums across about 38% of New Zealand (known as 'vector risk areas'). In these areas, nearly 70% of new herd infections can be traced back to possums or ferrets.