An opossum is a small, furry animal that climbs trees, mostly comes out at night, and lives on fruit, insects, and whatever it finds. The animal North Americans mean is a pouched animal: the mother carries her babies in a pouch, like a kangaroo. That surprises many students, because we think of pouches as an Australian thing — though actually true opossums belong to the Americas. The well-known American opossum will sometimes go stiff and look dead when it is very scared; English has the saying “play possum” from that. People also shorten the name to possum. If you are in Australia, though, “possum” usually names a different climbing animal. The two look a little alike and both live in trees, so school books often put America and Australia in one picture. Handy, and a bit messy.