A sugar glider, Petaurus breviceps, at Rolling Hills Wildlife Adventure Zoo.
Possums are a suborder of 70 tree-living marsupial species native to Australia and the Indonesian islands of New Guinea and Sulawesi. While their names are similar and both are marsupials, possums and opossums are different creatures. Opossum typically refers to the Virginia opossum and its cousins in the genus Didelphis, all of which live in North and South America.
Both of the English words possum and opossum come from aposoum, which means “white animal” in Powhatan, a Native American language.
Brushtail possums are the most widespread marsupial in Australia and perhaps the most well-known possums. As their name suggests, brushtails have long, thick tails with a prehensile tip and a furless patch on the underside, both of which help
