Talk:Opossum

message: Why is Gracilinanus listed twice, once as an already existing genus, and once as a separate genus? john k 15:56, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: "Gracilinanus" refers to a group of taxa that has been referred to Gracilinanus, however, unpublished research by Robert S. Voss and others (submitted) suggests that the five taxa belong to a separate genus. Another name might indeed be better to avoid confusion. I'll name it the agricolai-unduaviensis group. Ucucha 16:36, 3 Apr 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Genus

message: The Proto-Algonquin spelling provided has two non-Latin characters in it. One is a theta (appears as ϑ in my browser, but as θ when I copy the text into an editor); the other looks like a question mark and I wonder if it's a character that doesn't appear in my computer's font, or simply a mistake that doesn't belong there.  The Proto-Algonquin page linked to shows theta as one of a couple non-Latin characters used to transcribe the language, but otherwise it's not using anything exotic.  The Proto-Algonquin page also offers no insight into the leading asterisk (*) in the spelling.  — Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.202.166.103 (talk) 18:08, 7 February 2015 (UTC)
thread_title: "Proto-Algonquin" spelling

message: I think this picture is horrible. Ucucha 18:08, 13 Apr 2005 (UTC)
replies: text: I agree completely. It looks like something out of a bad horror movie. There are some public domain images [here]. I think "opossum_in_tree_closeup.jpg" is the best image. I'd put it in myself, but I can't upload anything to the Commons. StradivariusTV 05:34, 26 Jun 2005 (UTC)
thread_title: Picture

message: My dad and I found a dead one around 1975 near the source of the Humber River.
:The only report reference I could find in a quick search was dating from 1982, but thats good enough for me to do a reword of the line to remove the date of 1990. -Dawson 06:56, 14 May 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: I think they're getting more common, though. I live near a ravine in northern Toronto and there's been one prowling around my backyard. My dad has lived in this house for more than 35 years and never saw one before.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 99.226.89.244 (talk) 14:32, 20 April 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Opossums have been in Ontario, Canada for over 30 years 

message: *Oppose. One of the silliest ideas I've ever heard. Snottygobble 03:43, 8 June 2006 (UTC)
thread_title: Proposed merge

message: Aren't they even more commonly called possums than opossums in North America?  It's sort of slang, but has become entrenched enough to appear in dictionaries. Maybe this should be mentioned here.  And on the Possum page (which describes Oceanic marspials), it would probably be helpful to note that the word is also used to decribe American marsupials.  Tenfour 15:46, 2 August 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Technically speaking, the North American "'possum" is eqvuivalent to "opossum", while "possum" refers only to the Oceanic species. If you'll note the first paragraph of this article, this is already pointed out to some degree. Any more would be too much, IMO. - UtherSRG (talk) 16:30, 2 August 2006 (UTC)
thread_title:  Possum/Opossum 

message: I came to this page to confirm or deny another page's claim that opossums live to be only 1-2 years old.  Is estimated lifespan not encyclopediac? 66.57.225.77 20:25, 30 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Which species? And yes it is encyclopedic, but that doesn't mean those who have editted the article know that information. - UtherSRG (talk) 20:57, 30 December 2006 (UTC)
replies: text: Infant mortality is rather high, but the normal lifespan of a Virginia Opossum that reaches maturity is 2-3 years in the wild.  In captivity the normal is 3 years, but I know of a few rare instances when individual animals have lived as long as 5.69.134.14.112 (talk) 19:06, 29 November 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Lifespan 

message: I live in the US. I wanted to know what an 'opossum' was (technically speaking, I've seen more than one in my house!), came to this 'opossum' redirect....This is sooooo NOT what I was hoping to see. Redirect to 'Virginia Opossum' would seem much more appropriate, from an admittedly biased American perspective. Middlenamefrank 05:39, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: A redirect to Virginia Opossum, the only opossum in North America, would be incorrect, as there are many species of opossum living south of our border. You know that now. Did you learn that from having the redirect as it is? If so, then there is no problem. If not, then we need to work on the intro to *this* article, not change the redirect. (Or perhaps move this page to "opossum"....) - UtherSRG (talk) 12:49, 14 April 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Opossum?" 

message: I would like to see some information on how opposums get along with outdoor pets. I have a large opposum sheltering under a deck where my cat also shelters. I have observed this opposum eating my cat's food when it is left outside. I am particularly interested to know if opposums pose any threat to cats. —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 67.117.31.69 (talk • contribs).
:::Unlike cats, opossums lack the instinct to bury their dung, but they tend to go to the bathroom in the same place, with some regularity.  Your observation is correct:  opossums can eat catfood, but tend to prefer fresh bread, as the scent of fresh bread will pique their interest more than the scent of catfood will.  This may only be anecdotal, but we had a loaf of bread that was left out, and they went to it, ripping the plastic bag open in the middle, to get at the bread.  Apparently they found the scent of fresh bread much more appealing than the scent of fresh catfood.  As you already know, they have long skinny snouts, and have a very keen sense of smell, probably shaped through eons of evolution, to favor the scent of rotten meat, or carrion overwhelmingly appetizing.  Even though that may be the case, they  nevertheless chose our loaf of white bread over our sack of catfood.  198.177.25.10 (talk) 23:43, 25 October 2008 (UTC)
replies: text: Article talk pages are for discussing the improvement of the article, nothing else. - UtherSRG (talk) 13:05, 8 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: Opposums and Pets

message: I heard that opossums have their teets arranged in a circle with one in the middle. I haven't been able to find anything on teet arrangement. Can someone answer this question for me? I'm just curious. Thank you —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 65.241.19.3 (talk • contribs).
:Your answer is on the Virginia Opossum article. - UtherSRG (talk) 09:49, 30 July 2007 (UTC)
thread_title: teets

message: This article should be under the common not the scientific name.  I propose moving it to "Opossum" rather than having Opossum redirect here as it does now.--Doug.(talk • contribs) 11:43, 23 October 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Why? what would this accomplish? Anyone who searches for "Opossum" will find the article anyway. Furthermore, the REAL common name is possum, or perhaps 'possum. "Opossum" is never use in common speech that I have ever heard, at least in Virginia, Tennessee, South Carolina, or Georgia. -Arch dude 04:38, 3 November 2007 (UTC)
replies: text: Opossum was the vernacular in Tennessee, Georgia, Virginia and North Carolina. If someone from the Appalachian South fought in WWII they almost certainly said opossum. That changed radically with the first generation of people born after the war.   — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2601:151:8200:8EAC:3476:ABFC:AABC:5A01 (talk) 06:19, 21 June 2018 (UTC)

text: Because that's the naming convention for fauna.  See, Wikipedia:WikiProject_Tree_of_Life#Article_titles.--Doug.(talk • contribs) 20:02, 5 November 2007 (UTC)
thread_title:  Common not scientific name 

message: While I respect the desire for documentation, it can get a little silly. Recipes in old books are pretty strong evidence of food use. Another: Best Yet Life and Lore of the Smokies By Bonnie Trentham Myers, 160, 178 et passim. One can also search "possums for food" and get lots. Same thing was at issue in the raccoonarticle. DavidOaks (talk) 03:27, 12 December 2008 (UTC)
thread_title:  As Food 

message: The opossum can not have "foodways" as described by the wikipedia article foodways because these are uniquely human. Possums can not have social, cultural, or economic activities. Pygmypony (talk) 15:29, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Well, they can't have "historical references," either. Nor hunting (or at least, we'd only be able to talk about what they hunt, rather than what hunts them). For precision's sake, what about "In Hunting and Foodways"?DavidOaks (talk) 18:43, 22 April 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Perhaps we can compromise by changing the heading to "human predation" or "consumption by humans".Pygmypony (talk) 02:53, 17 October 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Foodways? 

message: What about the spelling standard of possum.  Being there is apparently a difference between Opossum and possum, but I had been tought that for a possum it was spelled with a leading apostrophe ( ' ) as in 'possum. Bdelisle (talk) 03:35, 3 May 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: That's what I learned also.  (BTW, note that "being that" is not grammatical standard English.) Zaslav (talk) 18:04, 9 June 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Naming/Spelling? 

message: *There are several incorrect or inconsistent items in this section.  I'm going to spend the next couple of days cleaning up what I can find good citations for. (I don't have much extra time each day to dedicate to this.) A lot of the information in this article is specific to the Virginia Opossum and not the order or family. I think the article is confusing. Vnarfhuhwef (talk) 01:05, 18 June 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Marsupials do NOT have a placenta, which is specifically what separates them from the other live bearing mammals and is why the young are born so early.  Fetal development occurs in the pouch. The actual number born in the new world opossums is quite debated but surprisingly not well documented.  All Marsupials have a divided uterus as do the most primitive members of the placental mammals (Edentates: sloths, anteaters, armadillos) They also have twin lateral vaginal canals and a birth canal which is central and separate.  Most male marsupials have a two-lobed penis.CharmsDad (talk) 04:50, 29 November 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: I've added a couple of references to support the claim that opossums do, indeed, have a placenta of sorts. However, the previous version of the article implied that they have a fully functional, invasive, placenta (albeit only by omitting to say that they don't), which was somewhat misleading, since its really quite a simple structure, and not at all like the one found in placental mammals. Anaxial (talk) 07:26, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Reproduction and lifestyle 

message: This claim contradicts two other wikipedia pages. The Monito del Monte and the Shrew opossum are South American marsupials not in the order Didelphimorphia. The source for the disputed claim is a youtube video, whereas the contradicting pages refer to scholarly sources. Therefore I propose to delete the claim. Qemist (talk) 21:31, 30 October 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Done Qemist (talk) 01:33, 1 November 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Yeah, it's out-of-date. Shrew-opposums and the Monito del Monte used to be considered didelphimorphs, but that hasn't been true for a long time. Anaxial (talk) 08:55, 1 November 2009 (UTC)

text: Marsupials had a much wider distribution in earlier geological periods. They could have gotten to Australia from Asia, or from Antarctica. 2601:441:4900:A6E0:C858:16CC:5C63:E59A (talk) 14:41, 15 May 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  The common opossums of the Americas are the only modern marsupials which are not endemic to the Australian Realm 

message: Some old page history that used to be at the title "opossum" can now be found at Talk:Opossum/Old history. Graham87 16:00, 20 December 2009 (UTC)
replies: text: Why? Ucucha 16:01, 20 December 2009 (UTC)
thread_title:  Old history 

message: Possums are not eaten in pies here. They are a protected species and not allowed to be hunted and eaten.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by 150.101.211.188 (talk) 02:50, 27 March 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: True enough, but you're thinking of possums, not opossums - different animal. Anaxial (talk) 07:29, 23 January 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Possums in Australia 

message: The forms "possum" and "'possum" are common in North America.  I added a mention of this, as I could find no discussion on why not to.  —Preceding unsigned comment added by Mkehrt (talk • contribs) 01:50, 9 July 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  possum 

message: I'm not really liking the recent edits added to the behavior section. They are a copy/paste verbatim of the website used in the reference. I'm not assuming anything, but I will say it looks like the owner of the website may have contributed the edits. They are, of course, welcome to edit the article. And I'm also not saying that the behavior mentioned doesn't happen. I've personally rehabbed many opossums. But I would like to see those edits rewritten and a stronger reference found for them. Vnarfhuhwef (talk) 01:48, 25 August 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Doesn't really matter who added the edits; they are clear copyvio. I've deleted them, and warned the editor. Anaxial (talk) 20:23, 25 August 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Reference to Non-Releasable  

message: I moved some material that was clearly about the Virginia Opossum, but how much of what remains is?  The Reproduction, Diet, and Behavior sections look very suspicious. —JerryFriedman  (Talk) 04:51, 24 October 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Opossum or Virginia Opossum? 

message: The "Hunting and foodways" section talks about Cuba and Dominica, but there are no marsupials mentioned at List of mammals of Cuba and List of mammals of Dominica.  A search for references to opossums on Cuba didn't turn up anything plausible.  I suspect the part about Cuba, if genuine, refers to hutias, as these rodents have been miscalled opossums  . —JerryFriedman  (Talk) 14:37, 24 October 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Yeah, I'm not aware of any opposums in the Caribbean, either, nor can I find any reference to such.Anaxial (talk) 14:47, 24 October 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Didelphis marsupialis occurs north to Dominica in the Lesser Antilles, though it may have been introduced; see Mammals of the Caribbean#Opossums. There are indeed no marsupials on Cuba. Ucucha 20:12, 24 October 2010 (UTC)
replies: text: Thanks.  I've deleted the reference to Cuba.  The material on the Common Opossum probably needs to be moved to that article, especially if there's a source. —JerryFriedman  (Talk) 01:52, 25 October 2010 (UTC)
thread_title:  Cuba and Dominica? 

message: Since the scientific name redirects to this page, this page requires a taxobox. Craig Pemberton 18:37, 7 June 2011 (UTC)
replies: text: Quite right. The taxobox was deleted by a vandal on 4th May, but for some reason, was not reverted properly. I have now restored it. Anaxial (talk) 20:02, 7 June 2011 (UTC)
thread_title:  Taxobox 

message: I believe marsupial morphology indicates that an opossum would have a cloaca, and the "anal" scent gland(s) (typically 2) would actually be "paracloacal glands" (close to, but not part of the cloaca). "Anal gland" might be common name, but is not the correct name.  This assumes that an opossum is anatomically similar to Petauridae in that area -- but that is not certain. ~E 74.60.29.141 (talk) 05:13, 9 October 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Anal glands? 

message: I note that an IP has twice removed the request for a citation for this line of the article: 
 Their unspecialized biology, flexible diet and reproductive strategy make them successful colonizers and survivors in diverse locations and conditions.
The claim being made is that the statement is so "obvious" that it should be exempt from needing to be demonstrated in reliable sources. Now, that might be fair enough if the statement were obvious (per the second paragarph of WP:NOR), but I don't see that it is. I'm not saying it's untrue, mind you, just that it's not so obvious as to be exempt from the need for a citation if it is challenged - as it has been. Specifically, I don't see that it's "obvious" that an opossum has an unspecialised biology (though it probably does), nor do I see that it's obvious it's reproductive strategy would make it adaptable to diverse conditions (how does it make it adaptable?), nor do I even see that it's obvious that opposums are, in fact, "successful colonisers and survivors in diverse... conditions" (relative to what?) The claim seems plausible enough not to be deleted as unsourced, but not so obvious that it doesn't need a citation. In fact, if it is that widely known, presumably a citation can't be hard to find? Anaxial (talk) 00:34, 26 November 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Diverse habitats? 

message: Based on that "map", one would assume there is not a single chance of possums in Florida or the SE US.  This is certainly not the case.  These guys inhabit my garbage cans and routinely lock horns with my dogs.
:I think you're misreading the map. The grey colour represents the area that opossums inhabit, and that certainly includes Florida and the SE US. Anaxial (talk) 21:59, 5 December 2012 (UTC)
replies: text: That would certainly be useful, if someone is willing to produce one? Anaxial (talk) 21:59, 5 December 2012 (UTC)

text: The present map probably shouldn't be in the article at all, as the map shows only one species of opossum, the Virginia opossum.  Also, it's confusing, as it shows that this species occurs in the southern U.S., including Florida, but at first glance I too though the gray area showed where it wasn't found, not where it was. —JerryFriedman  (Talk) 15:56, 8 December 2012 (UTC)
thread_title:  Possums in Florida 

message: The current first paragraph says twice that people often say "possum".  I think it's needed only once.  Would anyone like to fix this, or should I? —JerryFriedman  (Talk) 13:22, 10 July 2013 (UTC)
replies: text: By all means, Jerry.  That's pretty straightforward. PAGauden (talk) 18:33, 7 July 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Possum" needed only once 

message: The entire article is shaping up nicely with excellent documentation and citations.  But the "Behavior" section is lacking in that area.  I would prefer to leave the material currently there, but if anyone can provide proper documentation and sourcing, that would really help shore this up.  Thank you.  Looking excellent.  PAGauden (talk) 18:08, 7 July 2014 (UTC)
thread_title: Behavior Section

message: I'd rather leave this to someone with an existing login and some "cred" on this page...
Two, unnamed, tribe-level subgroups of subfamily "Didelphinae" (according to the classification for the genera therein) are presently indented beneath species "Chironectes minimus"
Yes, it's obviously a simple editing goof--just a bit nettlesome to see.
However, dealing with something like this--however trivial--beats arguing about colloquial pronunciations in a context of scholarship!
173.226.163.42 (talk) 08:27, 17 August 2014 (UTC)
replies: text: I don't know if I have "cred", but I've fixed it to the meaning that appears intended. (Can't check the source citation, though, so if I've misinterpreted, somebody else will have to fix it). Anaxial (talk) 20:14, 19 August 2014 (UTC)
thread_title:  Misleading indents 

message: I noticed that this article's list of genera is missing the Alphadon, which states that it belongs to the oppossums.  Anyone know enough to add this in?  -- Somarinoa (talk) 01:32, 15 January 2015 (UTC)
thread_title:  Missing Genera 

message: The "Biochemistry" sub-section is very small, this information could possibly be combined with the information about their survival and self-defense mechanisms. 
The "Hunting and foodways" section is a little choppy and not as easy to read as the rest of the article, I recommend a reordering/grouping of the information in this section to give it a better flow. 
There is also little information on habitat, and more citations are needed (or need to be updated). Brittabarre (talk) 02:24, 3 April 2017 (UTC)
thread_title:  "Biochemistry" and "Hunting and foodways" 

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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Hello fellow Wikipedians,
I have just modified 2 external links on Opossum. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
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*Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20131110190430/http://projects.scsc.k12.ar.us/index.php?page=possum-hunt to http://projects.scsc.k12.ar.us/index.php?page=possum-hunt
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thread_title:  External links modified 

message: Either the lead image on this page or the one on the Virginia opossum page should probably be changed so they don't both use the exact same image. It's a featured image so I don't know if it'd go better on this broader page or the page for the exact species it's about (though this page seems way too focused on the Virginia opossum as it is). --Jessietail (talk) 22:17, 16 September 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  Different page image? 

message: If you want to know what diseases affect opossums and do a Google search what you get is a list of what diseases they carry, which is not the same thing.  It would be nice if experts could add a section describing these and the symptoms that might be observed in opossums.Ealtram (talk) 23:38, 30 November 2018 (UTC)
thread_title:  diseases affecting opossums 

message: Under the 'Reproduction and life cycle' section it states they can give birth to "very large numbers" of young, and 13 is the max number that can feed from the mother. I think it could be helpful to include more information about the maximum litter size (so it's made aware how many may pass away due to the mother not having space) as well as including the average litter size. HeyImAl (talk) 18:49, 5 February 2020 (UTC)
thread_title:  Litter size 

message: The hallux in the hind feet of the opossum is opposable.— Preceding unsigned comment added by SaltySemanticSchmuck (talk • contribs) 
:Do you have a WP:SOURCE that we can use to state and confirm this?--Mr Fink (talk) 14:14, 18 January 2021 (UTC)
thread_title:  Why is it not mentioned anywhere that opossums' hind feet sorta have opposable thumbs? 

message: Do not use word possum for nickname on someone I care about. She is family. 174.29.93.157 (talk) 10:50, 25 February 2022 (UTC)
thread_title:  Nicknames of people 

message: The article itself notes that opossums have been extending their range northwards. This is certainly true in Southern Ontario. I have seen some in Bolton, northwest of Toronto. The map should really be updated. Kelisi (talk) 07:37, 8 March 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Range map 

message: Am I missing something or is there no mention of their rough lifespan in the article? 109.241.61.214 (talk) 03:55, 23 March 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: There are 93 different species; such things are better covered (where known) in the relevant species articles as they may vary quite a bit. See, for example Virginia opossum, which does include this info for the US species. Anaxial (talk) 06:51, 23 March 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  Lifespan  

message: Under the classification section there are 16 different species that are no longer recognized as valid, and 14 of those have their own separate pages. Just wondering what we should do about them? Most of them have been reclassified as synonyms of other species that are valid, and idk what to do about their pages. For now I marked the invalid ones and listed the species they are synonyms for, but it would be better to clean it up. DirtWhiskey (talk) 07:22, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
replies: text: Probably they should be merged with the article the species are now synonymous with. - UtherSRG (talk) 12:29, 12 December 2023 (UTC)

text: Also, we usually wait until the IUCN and MDD are in agreement before making taxonomic changes. I haven't checked the IUCN on these changes yet, though I spot checked the MDD and those seem right. - UtherSRG (talk) 12:30, 12 December 2023 (UTC)
thread_title:  No longer recognized species 

message: — Assignment last updated by Wildfern.27 (talk) 17:28, 21 March 2024 (UTC)
thread_title: Wiki Education assignment: Principles of Biology 2

message: In the etymology section, it states:
  Siebert reconstructs the word phonemically as /a·passem/.
Who is “Siebert” here? The name doesn’t seem to be referenced before this sentence. 
The citation for the sentence is “Crawford, James Mack; Crawford, James D. (1975). Studies in Southeastern Indian Languages. University of Georgia Press. ISBN 978-0-8203-0334-5.” However, the editor there is “Crawford”, not “Siebert.” It’s possible that “Siebert” is the author of the relevant passage, but the name doesn’t appear in the small linked excerpt on Google Books. I don’t have the cited book, and there’s no ebook available, so I can’t check it for more detail.
Does anybody have a good justification for the name “Siebwet”, or a better phrasing for that sentence without the name? Magicmat (talk) 11:35, 6 April 2024 (UTC)
thread_title:  Who is “Siebert”?