Head to head
Virginia Opossum vs Raccoon
The opossum and the raccoon both turn up at night, both raid bins and pet food, both are roughly cat-sized and greyish, and both have pointed-ish faces, so they get mixed up in porch-light glimpses. Zoologically they are about as far apart as two North American mammals can be. The raccoon is a carnivoran, in the branch that leads to weasels and bears. The opossum is a marsupial, the only one native to the United States and Canada, whose closest relatives are in South America.
| Virginia Opossum | Raccoon | |
|---|---|---|
| Group | Marsupial (pouched mammal) | Carnivoran (procyonid, near raccoons' cousins the coatis) |
| Tail | Naked, scaly, prehensile | Furred and boldly ringed |
| Face | Long, pointed, white; naked ears | Black mask over the eyes |
| Front paws | Clawed, opposable hind thumbs for climbing | Extremely dexterous and sensitive; handles food |
| Main defence | Gape and hiss, then involuntarily "play dead" | Flee, climb, or stand and fight; can be fierce |
| Teeth | 50, the most of any US land mammal | 40, typical carnivore set |
| Rabies risk | Very low; body temperature too low for the virus | A major rabies reservoir in the eastern US |
| Intelligence | Modest; good spatial memory for food | High; strong problem-solving and manual skill |
Opossum vs Raccoon: common questions
Are opossums and raccoons related?
Not even close. The raccoon is a placental mammal in the order Carnivora, family Procyonidae, alongside coatis, kinkajous, and ringtails, and more broadly related to weasels, bears, and dogs. The Virginia opossum is a marsupial, more closely related to a kangaroo or a Tasmanian devil than to any raccoon, and its immediate relatives are the many opossum species of Central and South America. Marsupials and placental mammals split from a common ancestor well over 150 million years ago. The resemblance is a case of two medium-sized, grey, nocturnal, omnivorous survivors converging on a similar look and lifestyle.
Which one is smarter?
The raccoon, clearly, and by a wide margin. Raccoons perform well on animal intelligence tests, solving multi-step puzzles, remembering solutions for years, and manipulating latches and containers with their hands in a way that has been compared to primates. Their dense population of touch receptors in the forepaws gives them a rich picture of objects they cannot see. Opossums have smaller brains relative to body size and score modestly on learning tasks, though they have a good spatial memory for the locations of food. If the contest is opening a secured bin, the raccoon wins; the opossum is more likely to give up or fall over.
Do opossums really not carry rabies?
They can, but it is genuinely rare, far rarer than in raccoons, skunks, foxes, or bats. The usual explanation is that the opossum's body temperature, around 34 to 35 degrees Celsius, is lower than that of most mammals and near the lower limit at which the rabies virus replicates well, so infections are less likely to take hold. An opossum that is hissing, drooling, and swaying is almost always either bluffing or in its involuntary death-feign response, not rabid. That said, any wild animal acting abnormally should be avoided, and a bite from any mammal should be assessed by a doctor.