When I visit the Nature Center, I always check to see if their Virginia opossum is awake, and fortunately on this visit, he was moving around the habitat searching for a snuggly place to go to sleep. I was grateful for a few minutes to observe him. He is blind in one eye and is therefore not releasable.

Opossums, North America’s only marsupial, are unique mammals. When threatened, they will outwit predators by appearing dead. The diet of these nocturnal omnivores and scavengers includes ticks and snakes! Their prehensile tail acts as an additional appendage to carry nesting material and grab onto tree limbs. Back feet have opposable thumbs, uncommon in the animal world.

Although opossums often have a bad reputation, having a opossum in your backyard is beneficial!

Learn additional information in Animal Fact Files. View full screen here.

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Feature opossums during a study of nocturnal animals. Go here to view full screen.

Compare the story elements in Night Animals with Night Animals Need Sleep Too.

Check out this fun book about friendship. Meeting new animals makes this opossum anxious, so he unwittingly plays dead, but then he meets an armadillo that rolls into a ball!