What is the maximal age a Virginia opossum reaches?
An adult Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) usually gets as old as 5 years.
Virginia opossums are around 12 days in the womb of their mother. When born, they weight 3 grams (0.01 lbs) and measure 1.3 cm (0′ 1″). As a member of the Didelphidae family (genus: Didelphis), a Virginia opossum caries out around 8 little ones per pregnancy, which happens around 2 times a year. Fully grown, they reach a bodylength of 40.2 cm (1′ 4″).
As a reference: Usually, humans get as old as 100 years, with the average being around 75 years. After being carried in the belly of their mother for 280 days (40 weeks), they grow to an average size of 1.65m (5′ 5″) and weight in at 62 kg (137 lbs), which is obviously highly individual.
The Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana), commonly known as the North American opossum, is the only marsupial found north of Mexico. In the United States, the animal is typically referred to simply as a possum. It is a solitary and nocturnal animal about the size of a domestic cat. It is a successful opportunist. It is familiar to many North Americans as they frequently inhabit settled areas due to the associated proximity to food sources, notably trash cans.
Animals of the same family as a Virginia opossum
Not really brothers and sisters, but from the same biological family (Didelphidae):
- Long-nosed short-tailed opossum bringing the scale to 765 grams
- Marajó short-tailed opossum getting as big as 13.4 cm (0′ 6″)
- Sepia short-tailed opossum bringing the scale to 36 grams
- Grayish mouse opossum with 8 babies per pregnancy
- Common fat-tailed mouse opossum bringing the scale to 28 grams
- Bishop’s slender opossum getting as big as 10.3 cm (0′ 5″)
- Lutrine opossum becoming 3 years old
- Osgood’s short-tailed opossum bringing the scale to 112 grams
- Dorothy’s slender opossum bringing the scale to 37 grams
- White-bellied woolly mouse opossum with 8 babies per pregnancy
Animals that reach the same age as Virginia opossum
With an average age of 5 years, Virginia opossum are in good companionship of the following animals:
- Little free-tailed bat usually reaching 5 years
- Garden dormouse usually reaching 5.5 years
- Paucident planigale usually reaching 5 years
- Derby’s woolly opossum usually reaching 5 years
- Wood mouse usually reaching 4.33 years
- Forest giant squirrel usually reaching 5.08 years
- Spinifex hopping mouse usually reaching 5.17 years
- Yellow-pine chipmunk usually reaching 5.17 years
- Woolley’s false antechinus usually reaching 4 years
- Tiger quoll usually reaching 5 years
Animals with the same number of babies Virginia opossum
The same number of babies at once (8) are born by:
- Tundra shrew
- Thirteen-lined ground squirrel
- Campbell’s dwarf hamster
- Slender-tailed dunnart
- Cheesman’s gerbil
- Brown rat
- White-footed dunnart
- Steppe pika
- White-bellied woolly mouse opossum
- Grayish mouse opossum
Weighting as much as Virginia opossum
A fully grown Virginia opossum reaches around 2.46 kg (5.41 lbs). So do these animals:
- Greater bamboo lemur weighting 2.03 kilos (4.48 lbs) on average
- Striped hog-nosed skunk weighting 2.01 kilos (4.43 lbs) on average
- Booted macaque weighting 2.75 kilos (6.06 lbs) on average
- Lesser cane rat weighting 2.71 kilos (5.97 lbs) on average
- Small-toothed palm civet weighting 2.32 kilos (5.11 lbs) on average
- Geoffroy’s cat weighting 2.73 kilos (6.02 lbs) on average
- Silver dik-dik weighting 2.5 kilos (5.51 lbs) on average
- Macleay’s dorcopsis weighting 2.78 kilos (6.13 lbs) on average
- Subalpine woolly rat weighting 1.99 kilos (4.39 lbs) on average
- Sanford’s brown lemur weighting 2.39 kilos (5.27 lbs) on average