Meet Olivia the opossum

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Olivia, the Virginia opossum, is one of 70 different wildlife species living behind the scenes at the Zoo as part of our Education Animal collection.  Education animals are featured in up close and personal animal encounters where staff and volunteers tell their stories during informal programs in the Wildlife Amphitheater (Friday, Saturday, Sundays at 10: 30am) and as part of formal curriculum programs for school groups on field trips.  

Opossums are members of the Didelphidae family, the largest family of marsupials in the Americas. They are related to marsupials in Australia including kangaroos, Tasmanian devils, kangaroos, koalas, wombats, wallabies and bandicoots. Close to 70% of the 334 species of marsupials occur on the Australian continent (the mainland, Tasmania, New Guinea and nearby islands). The remaining 30% are found in the Americas—primarily in South America, thirteen in Central America, and one species, the Virginia opossum, in North America, north of Mexico.

According to Dr. Arthur Harris of the University of El Paso, opossums have been introduced into the El Paso area. Like other marsupials their young are born as small embryos that develop into well developed young only after spending months feeding on their mother’s milk inside a pouch.