Animal - Opossum, Shenandoah National Park, Virginia - postcard c.1960s

Postcard
• Picture / Image:  Opossum (Didelphis marsupalis), Shenandoah National Park [Virginia, USA]
• Publisher:  Shenandoah Natural History Association Inc.
• Postally used:  no
• Stamp:  n/a
• Postmark(s): n/a
• Sent to:  n/a
• Notes / condition: 

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Text from the free encyclopedia WIKIPEDIA may appear below to give a little background information (internal links may not  work) :

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Shenandoah National Park encompasses part of the Blue Ridge Mountains in the U.S. state of Virginia. This national park is long and narrow, with the broad Shenandoah River and Valley on the west side, and the rolling hills of the Virginia Piedmont on the east. Although the scenic Skyline Drive is likely the most prominent feature of the Park, almost 40% of the land area 79,579 acres (322.04 km²) has been designated as wilderness and is protected as part of the National Wilderness Preservation System. The highest peak is Hawksbill Mountain at 4,051 feet (1,235 m).

The opossums, also known by their scientific name Didelphimorphia /da??d?lf?'m?rfi?/), make up the largest order of marsupials in the Western Hemisphere, including 103 or more species in 19 genera. They are also commonly called possums, particularly in the southern United States,^[3] although that term also refers to Australian animals of the suborder Phalangeriformes. The Virginia opossum was the first animal named an opossum; usage of the name was published in 1610.^[4] The word opossum was borrowed from the Virginia Algonquian (Powhatan) language in the form aposoum and ultimately derives from the Proto-Algonquian word *wa?p- a??emw, meaning ""white dog"" or ""white beast/animal"".^[5]

Their unspecialized biology, flexible diet, and reproductive habits make them successful colonizers and survivors in diverse locations and conditions.^{[citation needed]}

Didelphimorphs are small to medium-sized marsupials, ranging in size from a large house cat to a small mouse. They tend to be semi-arboreal omnivores, although there are many exceptions. Most members of this taxon have long snouts, a narrow braincase, and a prominent sagittal crest. The dental formula is: 5.1.3.44.1.3.4. By mammalian standards, this is an unusually full jaw. The incisors are very small, the canines large, and the molars are tricuspid.

Didelphimorphs have a plantigrade stance (feet flat on the ground) and the hind feet have an opposable digit with no claw. Like some New World monkeys, opossums have prehensile tails. Like all marsupials, the fur consists of awn hair only, and the females have a pouch. The tail and parts of the feet bear scutes. The stomach is simple, with a small cecum. Notably, the male opossum has a forked penis bearing twin glandes.^[6]

Opossums have a remarkably robust immune system, and show partial or total immunity to the venom of rattlesnakes, cottonmouths, and other pit vipers.^[7][8] Opossums are about eight times less likely to carry rabies than wild dogs, and about one in eight hundred opossums is infected with this virus.^[9]

Although all living opossums are essentially opportunistic omnivores, different species vary in the amount of meat and vegetation they include in their diet. Members of the Caluromyinae are essentially frugivorous; whereas the lutrine opossum and Patagonian opossum primarily feed on other animals.^[10] The yapok (Chironectes minimus) is particularly unusual, as it is the only living semi-aquatic marsupial, using its webbed hindlimbs to dive in search of freshwater mollusks and crayfish.^[11] Most opossums are scansorial, well-adapted to life in the trees or on the ground, but members of the Caluromyinae and Glironiinae are primarily arboreal, whereas species of Metachirus, Monodelphis, and to a lesser degree Didelphis show adaptations for life on the ground.^[12]

As a marsupial, the opossum has a reproductive system including a divided uterus and marsupium, which is the pouch.^[13] The average menstrual cycle of the Opossum is about 28 days.^[14] Opossums do possess a placenta,^[15] but it is short-lived, simple in structure, and, unlike that of placental mammals, is not fully functional.^[16] The young are therefore born at a very early stage, although the gestation period is similar to many other small marsupials, at only 12 to 14 days.^[17] Once born, the offspring must find their way into the marsupium to hold onto and nurse from a teat.

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,^[18] and therefore survive, depending on species. 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 two to four years. Senescence is rapid.^[19]

The species are moderately sexually dimorphic with males usually being slightly larger, much heavier, and having larger canines than females.^[18] The largest difference between the opossum and non-marsupial mammals is the bifurcated penis of the male and bifurcated vagina of the female (the source of the term ""didelphimorph,"" from the Greek ""didelphys,"" meaning double-wombed).^[20] Opossum spermatozoa exhibit sperm-pairing, forming conjugate pairs in the epididymis. This may ensure that flagella movement can be accurately coordinated for maximal motility. Conjugate pairs dissociate into separate spermatozoa before fertilization.^[21]

type=printed

animal subject=opossum

period=post-war (1945 - present)

postage condition=unposted

number of items=single

size=continental/ modern (150x100mm)