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Resources For Rehabbers
Research papers for fellow rehabilitators
Unless otherwise noted, all are concerning
Didelphis Virginiana
Many thanks to those who helped contribute to this ever-growing knowledge base
Opossum Natural History and Biology
Habitat and Range
- Influences of an Urban Environment on Home Range and Body Mass of Virginia Opossums (Didelphis virginiana)
- Ecology of the Opossum in Eastern Texas
- Movement, Habitat Use and Denning of Opossums in the Georgia Piedmont
- Movement Patterns and Home Range in the Common Opossum (Didelphis Marsupialis)
- Density dependence or climatic variation? Factors influencing survival, recruitment, and population growth rate of Virginia opossums
- Contemporary range expansion of the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) impacted by humans and snow cover
- Distributional Records of the Opossum in Ontario
- Food and Dens of the Opossum (Didelphis virginiana) in Northeastern Kansas
- Niche shift by the Virginia opossums following reduction of a putative competitor, the raccoon
- A Radiotelemetric Study of Spatial Relationships in the Opossum
- Habitat Dynamics of the Virginia Opossum in a Highly Urban Landscape
- Density dependence or climatic variation? Factors influencing survival, recruitment, and population growth rate of Virginia opossums
- Landscape Associations of Road killed Virginia Opossums
- Nest-Building Behavior of the Brazilian Bare-Tailed Opossum, Monodelphis domestica
Nutrition and Diet
- The Food of the Opossum in New York State
- Opossum weight gain graph
- Dietary Patterns of the Virginia Opossum in an Urban Environment
- Postmortem scavenging by the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana): Impact on taphonomic assemblages and progression
- Ectoparasites and food habits of the opossum, Didelphis virginiana, in Indiana
- Energy metabloism of the Virginia Opossum during fasting and exercise
Development and Physiology
Development
- The Pineal Region in the Opossum, Didelphis virginiana
- Osteological Variation within the Baldwin County, Georgia, Population of Didelphis virginiana
- The marsupial pouch: implications for reproductive success and mammalian evolution, Janine Deakin, 2013, Australian Journal of Zoology
- A review of complementary mechanisms which protect the developing marsupial pouch young M.J. Edwards , L.A. Hinds, E.M. Deane , J.E. Deakin
- Development of the immune system and immunological protection in marsupial pouch young
- The Development of the Immune Tissues in Marsupial Pouch Young Casey R. Borthwick, Lauren J. Young, and Julie M. Old*
- Haematopoesis in Marsupials, Julie M Old
- Sequential order of appearance of ossification centers in the opossum Didelphis albiventris (Didelphidae) skeleton during development in the Marsupium
- Development of the Digestive System in the North American Opossum Didelphis virginiana-)
Physiology
- Seasonal Changes in the Physiology of Male Virginia Opossums ( Didelphis virginiana ): Signs of the Dasyurid Semelparity Syndrome?
- Winter energetics of Virginia opossums Didelphis virginiana and implications for the species’ northern distributional limit
- Mammary glands in male marsupials: I. Primordia in neonatal opossums Didelphis virginiana and Monodelphis domestic
- Behavioral Aspects of Feigned Death in the Opossum Didelphis marsupialis
- The Electrocardiogram of the Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana)
Care of Captive Opossums
Parasites
General Parasites
Nematodes (lung and stomach worms)
- Opossum Nemotodiasis: Diagnosis and Treatment of Stomach, Intenstine and Lung Nematodes in the Virginia Opossum
- Spontaneous Cure After Natural Infection with Gnathostoma turgidum in Virginia Opossums
- A retrospective study of 11 cases of lungworm (Didelphostrongylus hayesi) infection in opossums (Didelphis virginiana)
- Pulmonary lesions caused by the lungworm (Didelphostrongylus) in the opossum (Didelphis virginiana) in Colima, Mexico
- The unique lungworms (Nematoda Metastrongyloidea) of the opossum
- Evaluation of Cruzia americana, Turgida turgida, and Didelphostrongylus hayesi Infection in the Virginia Opossum (Didelphis virginiana) and Risk Factors along the California Coast
- Prevalence, Acquisition, and Treatment of Didelphostrongylus hayesi (Nematoda: Metastrongyloidea) Infection in Opossums (Didelphis virginiana)
- Intrahepatic growth and maturation of Gnathostoma turgidum in the natural definitive opossum host, Didelphis virginiana
- Turgida turgida Nematoda Physalopteridae parasitic infection
Besnoitia
- Protozoal Disease in a California Opossum (Didelphis Virginia) Besnoitia darlingi
- Prevalence and tissue distribution of Besnoitia darlingi cysts in the Virginia opossum (Didelphis virginiana) in Michigan
- Besnoitiasis in Indiana Opossums
- Debilitation and mortality associated with Besnoititis
- Concurrent Presence of Sarcocystis Neurona Sporocysts, Besnoitia Darlingi tissue cysts, and Sarcocystis Inghami Sarcocysts in a Naturally Infected Opossum
Other parasites
- First molecular evidence of Toxoplasma gondii in opossums (Didelphis virginiana) from Yucatan, Mexico
- Eosinophilic meningoencephalitis associated with rat lungworm (Angiostrongylus cantonensis) migration in two nine-banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) and an opossum (Didelphis virginiana) in the southeastern United States
- Sarcocystis inghami n. sp. (Sporozoa: Sarcocystidae) from the skeletalmuscles of the Virginia opossum Didelphis virginiana in Michigan
Mothers and Babies
Milk Analysis and Study
- Wallaby mothers have unconventional placentas
- Milk Composition of the North American Opossum
- Chemical analyses of American opossum milk
- Opossum Milk Composition Values
- Molecular conservation of marsupial and eutherian placentation and lactation
- The Origin of Human Milk Bacteria: Is There a Bacterial Entero-Mammary Pathway during Late Pregnancy and Lactation?
Female Health and Reproduction
- Urinary Bladder incarceration and Infarction (due to fat pad)
- The oestrus cycle in the opossum
- The breeding season of the opossum (Didelphis virginiana) and the rate of intra-uterine and postnatal development
- Sternal Odors as Cues for Social Discrimination by Female Virginia opossums, Didelphis virginiana
- Reproductive Disorders of Marsupials
Diseases
Bacterial Endocarditis
- Experimental Bacterial Endocarditis in the Opossum (Didelphis virginiana)
- Experimental Bacterial Endocarditis in the Opossum (Didelphis virginiana). II. Induction of Endocarditis with a Single Injection of Streptococcus viridans
- Bacterial Clearance and Endocarditis in American Opossums
- Bacterial Endocarditis, Glomerulonephritis, and Amyloidosis in the Opossum (Didelphis virginiana)
Immunology
- Immunological protection of the vulnerable marsupial pouch young: two periods of immune transfer during lactation in Trichosurus vulpecula (brushtail possum) Frances M. Adamski, Jerome Demmer*
- Development of the immune system and immunological protection in marsupial pouch young
- Marsupial immunology bounding ahead Katherine Belov, Robert D. Miller, Julie M. Old and Lauren J. Young
- Acquired Immunity in Opossum (Didelphis Virginiana) Embryos
Other Studies
Other Species
General Care
Bats
Armadillos
- Guide to breeding armadillos in captivity
- Clinical disorders in armadillos
- Humans gave leprosy to the armadillos, now they are giving it back to us
- Nine Banded armadillo fact sheet, very interesting! from University of Georgia
- Population ecology of the nine-banded armadillo in Florida
- Translocation of nine-banded armadillos
- Animal Diversity Web: Armadillos
- Dasypus Novemcinctus- American Society of Mammalogists
- Spatial Learning in South American Opossums and Armadillos
- Metal accumulation in wild nine-banded armadillos
- Eosinophilic meningoencephalitis associated with rat lungworm (Angiostrongylus cantonensis) migration in two nine-banded armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) and an opossum (Didelphis virginiana) in the southeastern United States
- Survey for Leprosy in Nine-banded Armadillos (Dasypus novemcinctus) from the Southeastern United States
- Zoonotic Leprosy in the Southeastern United States
- Is leprosy spreading among nine-banded armadillos in the Southeastern United States?