Opossum Negative Footprint

Description

Opossum Negative Footprint measures 3.26 x 2.48 inches. American Opossum Negative Footprint cast is high quality and perfect for making cookies or fun educational art projects.

Opossums are members of the marsupial order Didelphimorphia endemic to the Americas.

The Virginia opossum is the only species found in the United States and Canada. It is often simply referred to as an opossum, and in North America it is commonly referred to as a possum.

Opossums are small to medium-sized marsupials that grow to the size of a house cat. They tend to be semi-arboreal omnivores. Most members of this order have long snouts, a narrow braincase, and a prominent sagittal crest.

They have a plantigrade stance (feet flat on the ground) and the hind feet have an opposable digit with no claw. Some opossums have prehensile tails.

The Opossums fur consists of awn hair only; many females have a pouch. The tail and parts of the feet bear scutes. The stomach is simple, with a small cecum.

The female opossum has a reproductive system that includes a bifurcated vagina and a divided uterus; many have a marsupium, the pouch. The average estrous cycle of the opossum is about 28 days.

Opossums do possess a placenta, but it is short-lived, simple in structure, and, unlike that of placental mammals, not fully functional. The young are therefore born at a very early stage, although the gestation period is similar to that of many other small marsupials, at only 12 to 14 days.

They give birth to litters of up to 20 young. Once born, the offspring must find their way into the marsupium, if present, to hold on to and nurse from a teat. Baby opossums are called joeys.

Female opossums often give birth to very large numbers of young, most of which fail to attach to a teat, although as many as thirteen young can attach.

The young are weaned between 70 and 125 days, when they detach from the teat and leave the pouch.
The opossum lifespan is unusually short for a mammal of its size, usually only one to two years in the wild and as long as four or more years in captivity.

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