Mother opossum with full pouch (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

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!

Mother Virginia opossum carrying her young on her back (photo from Wikimedia Commons)

p.s. How did Virginia opossums get so far north? They walked from South America!