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AnAge entry for Didelphis virginiana

Classification (HAGRID: 02820)
TaxonomyKingdom: Animalia
    Phylum: Chordata
        Class: Mammalia (Taxon entry)
            Order: Didelphimorphia
                Family: Didelphidae
                    Genus: Didelphis
SpeciesDidelphis virginiana
Common nameVirginia opossum

Lifespan, ageing, and relevant traits

Maximum longevity6.6 years (captivity)
Sourceref. 671
Sample sizemedium
Data qualityacceptable
Observations

In the wild, these animals do not live more than 2 or 3 years. One animal has been known to live 6.6 years in captivity [0671]. Animals living on predator-free islands, live longer, start reproducing at later ages, have smaller litter sizes, and appear to age slower than their mainland counterparts [0695].

Life history traits (averages)

Female sexual maturity184 days
Male sexual maturity243 days
Gestation12 days
Weaning102 days
Litter size15 (viviparous)
Litters per year
Inter-litter interval122 days
Weight at birth0.147 g
Weight at weaning142.5 g
Adult weight3,000 g
Postnatal growth rate0.0129 days-1 (from Gompertz function)
Maximum longevity residual39 %

Metabolism

Typical body temperature308ºK or 35.0ºC or 95.0ºF
Basal metabolic rate5.2990 W
Body mass2846.6 g
Metabolic rate per body mass0.001862 W/g

References
[0671] Richard Weigl (2005), Longevity of Mammals in Captivity; from the Living Collections of the World
[0036] Savage et al. (2004), The predominance of quarter-power scaling in biology
[0420] White and Seymour (2003), Mammalian basal metabolic rate is proportional to body mass2/3, PubMed
[0434] Ronald Nowak (1999), Walker's Mammals of the World
[0455] Virginia Hayssen et al. (1993), Asdell's Patterns of Mammalian Reproduction: A Compendium of Species-Specific Data
[0695] Austad (1993), Retarded senescence in an insular population of Virginia opossums (Didelphis virginiana)
[0473] Austad (1988), The adaptable opossum
[0731] Zullinger et al. (1984), Fitting sigmoid equations to mammalian growth curves

External resources

Integrated Taxonomic Information SystemITIS 179921
Animal Diversity WebADW account
Encyclopedia of LifeSearch EOL
Genome ProjectSearch NCBI
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