Virginia opossum

Gestation lasts 12 days (up to 13 days), litters average 6.6 young, and it has 2 litters per year. Its IUCN Red List category is Least Concern, which is not a threatened category.

Weight

1.15 kg – 2.2 kgsrc for Weight

Length

Not recorded

Lifespan

4.18 yearssrc for Lifespan

Diet

Carnivoresrc for Diet

Longest recorded lifespan

7 years

Main food

Not recorded

Habitat

Not recorded

Gestation

12.4 days – 13 dayssrc for Gestation

Young per litter or clutch

6.65src for Young per litter or clutch

Age at maturity

5.58 months – 7.93 monthssrc for Age at maturity

Litters or clutches a year

2src for Litters or clutches a year

Active

At night (nocturnal)src for Active

Lifestyle

Scansorialsrc for Lifestyle

Conservation status

Least Concern (IUCN)src for Conservation status

Countries on record

Not recorded

Not recorded

The virginia opossum is listed as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List: it is not currently at risk of extinction.

1. LCLeast Concern
2. NTNear Threatened
3. VUVulnerable
4. ENEndangered
5. CRCritically Endangered
6. EWExtinct in the Wild
7. EXExtinct

Category via Wikidata (CC0). Find the full assessment on the IUCN Red List. See all Least Concern species. What the categories mean.

1. kingdomAnimalia
2. phylumChordata
3. classMammalia
4. orderDidelphimorphia
5. familyDidelphidae
6. genusDidelphis
7. SpeciesDidelphis virginiana Kerr, 1792

Catalogue of LifeWikipediaiNaturalistWikidataWoRMSIUCN Red List

LC, Least Concern

Common opossum

Didelphis marsupialis

Didelphidae

LC, Least Concern

White-eared opossum

Didelphis albiventris

Didelphidae

LC, Least Concern

Big-eared opossum

Didelphis aurita

Didelphidae

LC, Least Concern

Andean white-eared opossum

Didelphis pernigra

Didelphidae

LC, Least Concern

Guianan white-eared opossum

Didelphis imperfecta

Didelphidae

D

Didelphis alboguttata

DidelphidaeNo free photo yet

CompareVirginia opossum vs Common opossumVirginia opossum vs White-eared opossumVirginia opossum vs Big-eared opossumVirginia opossum vs Andean white-eared opossum

• An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles · CC0 1.0 · E096-269
  Myhrvold, N.P., Baldridge, E., Chan, B., Sivam, D., Freeman, D.L. & Ernest, S.K.M. (2015) An amniote life-history database to perform comparative analyses with birds, mammals, and reptiles. Ecology 96: 3109. https://doi.org/10.1890/15-0846R.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3563457.v1
• Catalogue of Life eXtended Release · CC BY 4.0 · 2026-10-16 XR
  Catalogue of Life (2026). Catalogue of Life eXtended Release, version 2026-10-16 XR. Catalogue of Life Foundation, Amsterdam, Netherlands. https://doi.org/10.48580/dgzlf
• Wikimedia Commons · per file (CC0 / public domain / CC BY green, CC BY-SA amber, anything else not displayed) · 2026-11-11
  Wikimedia Commons contributors. Wikimedia Commons. https://commons.wikimedia.org (each file credited to its author under its own licence).
• EltonTraits 1.0: species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals · CC0 1.0 · 1.0
  Wilman, H., Belmaker, J., Simpson, J., de la Rosa, C., Rivadeneira, M.M. & Jetz, W. (2014) EltonTraits 1.0: Species-level foraging attributes of the world's birds and mammals. Ecology 95: 2027. https://doi.org/10.1890/13-1917.1. Data: https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.3559887.v1
• Wikidata · CC0 1.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikidata contributors. Wikidata. https://www.wikidata.org (data retrieved via the Wikidata Query Service).
• Wikipedia (English) · CC BY-SA 4.0 · 2026-11-11
  Wikipedia contributors. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. https://en.wikipedia.org (text under CC BY-SA 4.0; each block names its article and revision).

@misc{virginia_opossum_2026,
  title = {Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana)},
  author = {{CreatureData}},
  year = {2026},
  url = {https://creaturedata.com/animals/virginia-opossum},
  note = {Data as of 2026-11-11}
}