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Yapok, water opossum - CHIRONECTES MINIMUS
Endangered
Class: Mammals with milk glands (Mammalia)
The Name "Yapok": "Yapok" derives its name from the Oyapock River of South America. It is an aquatic animal. The word "opossum" was taken from the Algonquian Indian word for the animal. Although other animals in South America and Australia are called "possums," they are not closely related to the Virginia animal, and only derive their name by dint of a generally similar shape. True opossums are unique to North America.
Location: Southern Mexico to northern Argentina.
Habitat: Aquatic and terrestrial, alongside freshwater rivers and lakes.
Description: The yapok is a long-legged opossum with a relatively broad snout, and a long, almost hairless, scaly tail except at its base. It has a modified wrist bone which simulates a sixth digit on the forefeet, and webbed hind feet for fast swimming. It has short dense fur with round black patches on its back and head, contrasting with gray or white on the belly. It is about 11" long, weighs 1.5 lbs.
Behavior: The yapok can be found from lowland rivers up to mountain streams at least 6000 feet elevation in the eastern Andes. The yapok is the only truly aquatic marsupial. It burrows into stream banks, with an entrance just above water level, and with a nesting chamber dug at the end of a descending tunnel. It may also have a nest of leaves or grass up on the ground for an occasional daytime retreat. An expert swimmer and diver, it eats crustaceans, fish, and other small aquatic animals during the night.
Reproduction: The female's pouch can be closed by a sphincter muscle surrounding its edge, which makes it virtually waterproof for the babies carried inside when the mother is swimming. The female delivers two or three babies at a time, usually in December and January (summertime in South America.)
Note: The male yapok has a front pouch protecting the scrotum.
Go to the Marsupials Page to get a general discussion of these animals.
Or go to the Opossum Index to study more opossums.
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