1 May 2026
Marsupials are unusual mammals whose young are born in an undeveloped state and complete their development inside their mother’s pouch. Australia has many marsupials including kangaroos and koalas but north of Mexico, North America has only one. The Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) is the northernmost marsupial in the world.
This week Dana Nesiti saw an opossum crossing a gravel trail and published it in slow motion on Facebook. Notice how “fat” this possum appears to be. She’s a mother carrying her growing young inside her pouch.
NOTE: If you’re viewing this on mobile and cannot see the video: A Facebook bug prevents displaying of embedded Facebook posts on some mobile devices. Until Meta fixes it click here to see Dana’s post.
When her young get larger they won’t fit in her pouch so she’ll have to carry them on her back. The caption on this Wikimedia photo says she’s carrying nine!
p.s. How did Virginia opossums get so far north? They walked from South America!
This is adorable ?
Do you have Opossums in your area? It must be amazing to see this cuties in real life.
Yes we do have opossums here. There are not nearly as cute as hedgehogs.