Opossum

marsupial · Americas · survivor

Expert play-deaders. Opossums have a famous defense trick: when threatened, they fall over and play dead, lying completely still with their tongue hanging out. Predators often lose interest in what they think is already dead prey.

American originals. Opossums started out in South America millions of years ago and eventually traveled north to North America. They're one of the few marsupials that live outside of Australia.

Tiny joey babies. Baby opossums are born incredibly small, about the size of a jellybean, and they grow in their mother's pouch just like kangaroos do. After they're big enough, they ride on their mother's back.

Helpful garbage eaters. Opossums eat almost anything, including insects, fruit, and dead animals they find. Many people like having them around because they eat ticks and clean up food scraps.

Ancient survivors. Opossums have stayed nearly the same for about 70 million years, which means they figured out a winning survival strategy long ago and never needed to change much.