I’ve been seeing a lot of opossums on my trail cameras lately. Like raccoons and coyotes, they are one of our mammals that stay active all winter. I’m really hoping to “catch” a female opossum this spring carrying her babies on her back–something I have seen photos of, but have never seen for myself. The female will carry the babies on her back for 1 to 2 months so it seems like I will have plenty of chances to capture this. And since I am learning their habits by way of the trail cam footage, I feel I will have a pretty good chance at this goal. I will definitely share it with you when I get it! Have you ever seen a mama Opossum carrying her babies on her back?
So yes, let’s talk Opossums. Are you ready to play Can You Spot the Lie? Which one of these “facts” is not true? There are two truths and one lie. Here goes:
- If I am female, I have 20 nipples so I can nurse my 20 tiny babies
- If I am female, I give birth to my tiny babies 11-13 days after conception
- I win the prize for having the most teeth of any mammal–with 50 jammed into my small mouth
Can you spot the lie? You’ll have to scroll down past last week’s quiz about the dragonflies to find the answer. Click here to find out.
My guess is the first is the lie about having that many nipples.
Arden, that makes you 3 for 3! Opossums DO have a lot of nipples–13, but not 20! They do sometimes give birth to up to 20 babies but only 13 can survive since mama can only provide for that many. That’s a lot of babies!