Bob Cline, age 11, of Enid, Oklahoma, for his question:

What is the opossum family?

Our charming little opossum is classed in the order of marsupials. These fascinating animals, of course, carry their helpless mini babes in the mother's pouch, which usually is on her stomach. Most marsupials are natives of Australia and its nearby islands. Their large animal order is subdivided into a number of smaller families, to separate the kangaroos, bandicoots, koalas and so on.

Our native opossum marsupial is classified in the Family Didelphidae a term which refers to the mother's pouch. This little mother is found from New England to the South, westward to California and southward to Mexico. In South America, there are woolly opossums and rat tailed opossums and several opossums no bigger than rats or mice. All these New World opossums are classed in the marsupial family Didelphidae.