Little Water Opossum

Fascinating facts about the Little Water Opossum

• Breeding kicks off in September and runs through April, then pauses for about five months. Females produce two litters a year, each holding 7-11 babies after a roughly two-week gestation. The newborns cling to the pouch, stay there until about three months old, and reach sexual maturity at six months, though they wait another year to breed themselves.
• Ninety-three percent of captured individuals were found within 20 m of a permanent water source, underscoring the species' dependence on streams, creeks, and flooded grasslands. By nesting in reeds or abandoned burrows, it can dive and swim to catch aquatic invertebrates.
• Although not a true semi-aquatic specialist, the opossum is a powerful swimmer that pushes with its hind limbs while the forelimbs act as paddles. This versatile locomotion lets it run, climb, and dive across grassy-woodland and marshy terrain, expanding its diet to include fish, crustaceans, and even venomous snakes.
• It devours more meat than any other South-American opossum, earning the title of the most carnivorous didelphid. Its skull is built for a meat-eating diet and it even attacks venomous snakes, adding a dangerous prey to its menu.
• Males outweigh females by a striking margin: average male body mass is 737.2 g versus 490.4 g for females, and males are longer, 316.7 mm head-body compared with 285.4 mm in females. This size gap hints at male-male competition for mates.

Sources

Every fact above was checked against these pages, and kept only where one of them states it.

• Wikipedia
• Animal Diversity Web

At a glance

About the Little Water Opossum

In the velvety darkness of South America's freshwater realms, the little water opossum glides with serene elegance, its webbed hind feet propelling it through the water with a silent, almost spectral, grace. As it navigates the aquatic world, its large, round eyes shine like polished onyx, drinking in the faint glow of bioluminescent organisms that dance around it, a testament to its remarkable adaptability in this mysterious, underwater domain. With its thick, insulating fur and robust tail, the little water opossum is a master of its semi-aquatic environment, moving with a fluidity that belies its terrestrial origins.

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