January 18, 2003                       Full Moon                                                                                               

A Busy Season for Nocturnal Animals The length of night in Pennsylvania varies throughout the year from a minimum of 9 hours at the beginning of summer, to a maximum of 15 hours at the beginning of winter. When do you think it would be easiest to live if you were a nocturnal animal? The photo above is of a Virginia opossum. Opossums are nocturnal, with a keen sense of hearing and smell. They don't fear water and are good swimmers. They have remained relatively unchanged for 75 million years, and in fact are members of the oldest surviving mammal group (marsupials) from the age of the dinosaurs. They have more teeth than any other American land mammal (50 pearly whites). There are over 60 different species of opossums, but only one of these species lives in North America. More information about WPC's Work in Natural Resource Conservation

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