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thick-tailed opossum
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thick-tailed opossum

marsupial
Also known as: lutrine opossum, lutrine possum, thick-tailed possum(Show More)
Written by
Alfred L. Gardner
Curator, New World Mammals, National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C. Wildlife Biologist, Patuxent Wildlife Research Center, United States Geological Survey, Laurel,...
Alfred L. Gardner
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Britannica Editors
Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree....
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History

thick-tailed opossum, (genus Lutreolina), any of three species of minklike, aggressive, and mainly carnivorous South American marsupials (family Didelphidae, subfamily Didelphinae) adapted to live along rivers and streams in periodically flooded grassland habitats. One species (Lutreolina turneri) is found in savanna habitats (llanos) from Guyana westward through Venezuela to eastern Colombia. The other species are associated with southern grassland (pampas) habitats from Bolivia and Brazil to northern Argentina. Adults vary from 46 to 71 cm...

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