Monday Mammal #12: Virginia Opossum

Mammals, you may recall, are often categorized into two groups: the Prototheria (monotremes like this one) and Theria (live bearing mammals). Within the Theria, there are the marsupials and placentals - the former being woefully neglected so far on this blog!  So to give the marsupials a bit more coverage, I present you with everyone's favorite (and least favorite) North American marsupial, the largest (and the smallest) marsupial north of Mexico, the one, the only... Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana).

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You can learn more about these cool critters here, via the Smithsonian National Museum of Natural History.