Barbara M. Linde - The Life Cycle of an Opossum

The Life Cycle of an Opossum — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "The Life Cycle of an Opossum" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

12

Table of Contents

.

The Life Cycle of an OPOSSUM

.

.

The Life Cycle of an

OPOSSUM

By Barbara M. Linde

.

Please visit our Web site, www. garethstevens. com. For a free color catalog of all our high-quality books, call toll free 1-800-542-2595 or fax 1-877-542-2596.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Linde, Barbara M. The life cycle of an opossum / Barbara M. Linde. p. cm. -- ( Natures life cycles) Includes index. ISBN 978-1-4339-4680-6 ( pbk. ) ISBN 978-1-4339-4681-3 ( 6-pack) ISBN 978-1-4339-4679-0 ( library binding) Opossums Life cycles Juvenile literature. I. Title. QL737. M34L56 2011 276156--dc22 2010030695

First Edition

Published in 2011 by Gareth Stevens Publishing East 14th Street, Suite New York, NY 10003

Copyright 2011 Gareth Stevens Publishing

Designer: Daniel Hosek Editor: Therese Shea

Photo credits: Cover, p. Gail Shumway/Photographers Choice/Getty Images; pp. 5, ( all images) , 17, 19, 20, ( adult) iStockphoto. com; pp. 7, 9, 11, ( young) Shutterstock. com; pp. 9, ( baby) Joe McDonald/Visuals Unlimited/Getty Images; p. Steve Maslowski/Visuals Unlimited/Getty Images.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a reviewer.

Printed in the United States of America

CPSIA compliance information: Batch #CW11GS: For further information contact Gareth Stevens, New York, New York at 1-800-542-2595.

.

Contents

What Is an Opossum?

A Special Marsupial

Baby Opossums

Hungry Babies

Young Opossums

Adult Opossums

Night Animals

Playing Dead

Lots of Opossums

The Life Cycle of an Opossum

Glossary

For More Information

Index

Words in the glossary appear in bold type the rst time they are used in the text

.

What Is an Opossum?

An opossum is a mammal. It has a long, thin body. Each foot has ve toes. One toe on each back foot acts like a thumb. It works with other toes to hold on to things.

An opossums pointy face is pinkish white, with a pink nose, dark eyes, and whiskers. Its mouth holds sharp teeth. Its large ears and most of its long tail have no hair. The opossum uses its tail to carry things and to help it climb trees.

AWESOME ANIMAL!

The name opossum comes from the Algonquian Indian word pasum, which means white animal.

.

Opossums are also called possums.

.

A Special Marsupial

An opossum is a marsupial. Marsupials are like other mammals except for one big difference. A female marsupial has a pouch where babies grow. Like most marsupials, the opossum has its pouch on its stomach. The pouch is made of skin and fur.

The Virginia opossum is the only marsupial that lives in the wild in North America and Central America. It likes to live in forests and swamps. However, some wild opossums have learned to live in cities!

.

AWESOME ANIMAL!

The Virginia opossum isnt native to the West Coast. However, people took some there, and now opossums live all over the coast!

Opossums live anywhere they can nd food.

.

Baby Opossums

Male and female opossums mate sometime between January and July each year. After just or days, baby opossums are born. Theyre only about the size of a ngertip! Theyre blind and without fur. A female can have up to babies in one litter. She may have two litters a year.

The babies arent ready for the outside world yet. As soon as theyre born, they crawl into their mothers pouch. Inside the pouch, they drink their mothers milk.

.

Baby opossums already have sharp claws!

.

Hungry Babies

The baby opossums stay in the cozy pouch for or months. They drink milk. They get bigger and stronger. Their fur grows. When theyre about days old, their eyes open for the rst time.

Now the babies begin to climb out of the pouch. When theyre hungry, they go back into the pouch. Sometimes the mother leaves them alone in a den. A den may be a hole in a tree, hollow log, or the ground.

AWESOME ANIMAL!

Opossums have been on Earth for about million years. They were here when dinosaurs existed!

.

These opossum babies peek out of their den in a tree.

.

Young Opossums

After days, the young opossums are strong enough to live outside the pouch. However, theyre not ready to live on their own. For about more weeks, they stay close to their mother. She takes them for rides on her back. They eat food in their den. Then they start to travel outside the den to nd food.

Finally, the young opossums get too heavy to ride on their mothers back. She may already have a new litter in her pouch. Its time for them to go.

.

AWESOME ANIMAL!

Opossums dont see or hear well. They use their good sense of smell to find food.

Young opossums learn how to nd food as they ride on their mothers back.

Next page

12

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «The Life Cycle of an Opossum»

Look at similar books to The Life Cycle of an Opossum. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

Laura Staton

Baby Om: Yoga for Mothers and Babies

Kaye Bailey

Day 6: Beyond the 5 Day Pouch Test

Barbara Linde

The Story of Hanukkah

Barbara M. Linde

The Life Cycle of a Honeybee

Barbara M. Linde

The Life Cycle of a Crocodile

Emily Green

Opossums

Barbara Corcoran

Nextville: Amazing Places to Live the Rest of Your Life

Steven N. Austad

Methuselahs Zoo : What Nature Can Teach Us about Living Longer, Healthier Lives

Robert S. Voss and Sharon A. Jansa

Opossums: An Adaptive Radiation of New World Marsupials

Bailey

The 5 Day Pouch Test Owners Manual

Bailey

DAY: 6 Beyond the 5 Day Pouch Test: Celebrating 10 Years of LivingAfterWLS

Lynn Haupt

The Urban Bestiary

Discussion, reviews of the book The Life Cycle of an Opossum and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.