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[6] The Powhatan word ultimately derives from a Proto-Algonquian word (*wa·p-aʔθemwa) meaning "white dog or dog-like beast." [ 6 ] Following the arrival of Europeans in Australia , the term possum was borrowed to describe distantly related Australian marsupials of the suborder Phalangeriformes , [ 7 ] which are more closely related to other ...
The Virginia opossum is the original animal named "opossum", a word which comes from Algonquian wapathemwa, meaning "white animal". Colloquially, the Virginia opossum is frequently just called a "possum". [8] The term is applied more generally to any of the other marsupials of the families Didelphidae and Caenolestidae.
In mammals, the Virginia opossum (commonly known simply as possums) is perhaps the best known example of defensive thanatosis. "Playing possum" is an idiomatic phrase which means "pretending to be dead". [13] It comes from a characteristic of the Virginia opossum, which is famous for reacting with a death-like posture when threatened.
The term "opossum" is used to refer to American species (though "possum" is a common abbreviation), while similar Australian species are properly called "possums". Isolated petrosals of Djarthia murgonensis , Australia's oldest marsupial fossils [ 71 ] Dentition of the herbivorous eastern grey kangaroo, as illustrated in Knight's Sketches in ...
Possum Kingdom Lake is a man-made reservoir built in the 1940s. Located at the lake is the Morris Sheppard Dam, named after the Texas senator who helped secure funding for the project.
Common ringtail possum (Pseudocheirus peregrinus), also common in Australian urban areas, absent from New Zealand; Phalangeridae (possums and cuscuses), a family of marsupials native to Australia and New Guinea containing most of the species referred to as "possums" in Australia
What Does a Snake Tattoo Symbolize? "Snakes have gotten a bad rap in the West," says Dr. Jonathan Dubois, Ph.D., an adjunct professor at California State University-San Bernardino and Ph.D ...
The sugar glider (Petaurus breviceps) is a small, omnivorous, arboreal, and nocturnal gliding possum.The common name refers to its predilection for sugary foods such as sap and nectar and its ability to glide through the air, much like a flying squirrel. [8]