Opossum

"...Everywhere: Under rocks, in holes in the ground. Usually, we come out at night so birds don't carry us off."

―Ellie on possum locations

Opossum
Physical Attributes Kingdom Mammalia Species Marsupial Height Approx. 1 ft' Eye Color Brown, blue Fur Color Brown and tan stripes Skin Color Pink Diet Omnivore

Opossums, known more colloquially as possums, are small, four-legged mammals that lived during the ice ages into the present day.

Traits

Small marsupials, possums have compact, tube-shaped bodies with small, four-digited paws on short limbs. With their keen eyesight, possums are able to see in the dark. Possum fur is striped brown and tan, which makes for ideal camouflage in forests. Most notably, however, is the possum's tail, which is long, thin and hairless: this tail can be used as an extra limb, used in anything from hanging from trees to an extra limb with which to play games. Possums have a number of hiding places, from rocks to trees and in holes in the ground, coming out at night often so as to be safe from predators. The typical possum response to danger is to play dead and lay still, arms, legs and tail all stiff.

History

Possums were among the animals that lived in the ice ages, and resided in Ice Valley during the days of the flooding, in which the walls of ice surrounding the valley would burst, letting in massive amounts of meltwater. The possums had survived through this, along with other animals. Years before, one possum family would take in a lost mammoth calf and raise her as their own. This unfortunately led her to think she too was a possum.

Appearances

• Ice Age: The Meltdown (First appearance)
  • Ice Age: The Meltdown (video game)
  • Ice Age: The Great Escape
  • Look and Find: Ice Age 2: The Meltdown
• Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs
  • Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (video game)
  • Ice Age 3: Dawn of the Dinosaurs: The Junior Novel
• Ice Age: A Mammoth Christmas
• Ice Age: Iced In
• Ice Age: Continental Drift
  • Ice Age: Continental Drift (video game)
• Ice Age Village
• Ice Age Adventures
• Ice Age: The Great Egg-Scapade
• Ice Age: Where There's Thunder
• Ice Age: The Hidden Treasure
• Ice Age: Collision Course
• Ice Age: Adventures of Buck Wild

Known Opossums

• Crash
• Eddie
• Ellie's grandmother
• Mother Opossum
• Wilton

Behind the scenes

Because of the time eras set in each Ice Age film it could be possible that the opossums in the Ice Age movies are actually Herpetotherium an extinct species of marsupial that is closely related to the modern day opossum.

Trivia

• Crash, the voice of Seann William Scott, is also the voice of Skiff in Planet 51.