- Common Opossum
Taxobox
name = Common OpossumMSW3 Gardner|pages=5-6]
status = LC
status_system = iucn3.1
status_ref = IUCN2006|assessors=New World Marsupial Specialist Group|year=1996|id=40501|title=Didelphis marsupialis|downloaded=12 May 2006 Database entry includes justification for why this species is of least concern]
regnum =Animal ia
phylum = Chordata
classis =Mammal ia
infraclassis =Marsupial ia
ordo =Didelphimorphia
familia =Didelphidae
subfamilia =Didelphinae
genus = "Didelphis "
species = "D. marsupialis"
binomial = "Didelphis marsupialis"
binomial_authority = Linnaeus, 1758The Common Opossum ("Didelphis marsupialis") or Manicou (so named in the
Antilles ) [Mendes, John. 1986. "Cote ce Cote la: Trinidad & Tobago Dictionary", p. 95.] is anopossum species living from the south ofMexico toBolivia . It prefers the woods, but can also live in fields and cities.The Common Opossum is approximately as big as a
cat . Its fine and smooth tail can measure 50 cm. It has 50 teeth.The Common Opossum is a
nocturnal animal. During the day, it sleeps in the hollow of a tree. Its head stays under the rest of its body. It eats fruits (such asmango es), worms, frogs, and insects but sometimes birds and eggs.When the Common Opossum feels in danger, it emits a disagreeable smell.
The female births 5 to 9 young between 1 and 3 times the year. The new-borns are kept in the mother's pouch until they can survive on their own. Males take no part in raising the young. The Common Opossum live to the age of 2.5 years on average.
In the Antilles, people eat manicous. It is hunted during the night with a torch, which dazzles the animal. Since
17 February 1989 , the species has been protected by French law.There is some speculation that this opossum, like the armadillo and several other creatures originally from the tropics, has begun moving into the United States. [cite book | author = Gehlbach, Frederick R. | title = Messages from the Wild: An Almanac of Suburban Natural and Unnatural History | pages = pp. 160| publisher = University of Texas Press, Austin | year = 2002]
The name "manicou" probably comes from a Native American language.
References
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