What do opossums eat?

Opossums are the marsupial species from the Didelphidae family. They have their origins in South America and then they moved to North America too during the interchange of Great America. And now they may be found in many regions of the world. Because of their movement from one place to another, they now, possess a diverse and flexible habitat and have the ability to be settled and survive in several environments. Opossums are further divided into 108 various species such as; Virginia opossums, white-eared opossums, water opossums, and lutrine opossums, etc. They mostly prefer to live in solitude, they prefer living in safe and dark places that may be under or over the land, and they are also known as nomadic animals, as they keep traveling from one place to another. They will leave the previous place and move to the new one as soon as they stop finding any food available for them at that place. Opossums are well known around the globe because of their feature of faking themselves as a dead animal when any predator approaches them to prey.

Diet of opossums:

Like human beings, opossums are naturally omnivores, but their preferences of eating plants or meat may vary depending upon their habitats or species. But overall, it could be said that the opossums' diet includes both the plants and flesh.

Considering the opossum's diet in detail explains that the opossum's meals may include; all types of fruits, all vegetables, crops, grains, all kinds of plants, the eggs of birds, many small insects including frogs, lizards, mice, rabbits, etc and most importantly they are the eaters of the dead carcasses of animals. There strong sense of hearing and smelling and their sharp claws help them find and capture their prey. It is a fact about opossums that they need a large amount of calcium in their bodies, so to fulfill this requirement of calcium, they eat skeletons from the dead bodies of animals. Where ever they get to see any dead animal, whether it is in someone's house, in the forests, on the sides of roads or even in the garbage bins, they will always like to have it to fulfill their hunger. They are known to provide sanitation services to the forests and also to help dispose of the dead carcasses of animals from any place without charging any amount in return. Along with it they might eat the food of pet animals, or the objects present in the garbage bins and sometimes they even eat rattlesnakes, it could sound a little weird that how they can prey that big snake, but yes this is true, they do this.

Conclusion:

Opossums are mostly found in the United States of America. Most of the people possess a negative image of opossums as they are considered to be aggressive and dangerous for humans. But, actually they do not harm humans in any way. They just prey small animals for their feedings and could be irritating sometimes because they could eat the plants, fruits or veggies from your garden, but again they are helpful when it comes to removing dead animals.

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