water opossum

The water opossum has several adaptations for its watery lifestyle.

Being a marsupial and at the same time an aquatic animal, the water opossum has evolved a way to protect its young while swimming.

The water opossum seems to have a history dating as far back as to the Pliocene epoch.

The thylacine was one of only two marsupials to have a pouch in both sexes (the other being the water opossum).

The local name for the water opossum, "yapok", probably comes from the name of the Oyapok River in French Guyana.

Yapok or Water Opossum (Chironectes minimus)

The water opossum (Chironectes minimus), also locally known as the yapok, is a marsupial of the family Didelphidae.

The Water Opossum (Chironectes minimus) of South America is the only opossum with interdigital webbing.

The pouch is a distinguishing feature of female marsupials (and rarely in the males as in the water opossum and the extinct thylacine); the name marsupial is derived from the Latin marsupium, meaning "pouch".

Opossums are New World marsupials with opposable thumbs in the hind feet giving these animals their characteristic grasping capability (with the exception of the Water Opossum, the webbed feet of which restrict opposability).

The lutrine opossum (Lutreolina crassicaudata), also known as the little water opossum or thick-tailed opossum, is an opossum species from South America and is monotypical of the genus Lutreolina.

The water opossum (Chironectes minimus), also locally known as the yapok, an aquatic marsupial are member of the opossum family with black and grey waterproof fur, webbed hind feet and a backward-pointing pouch in both sexes.

The semi-aquatic lifestyle of platypuses prevented them from being outcompeted by the marsupials that migrated to Australia millions of years ago, since joeys need to keep attached to their mothers and would drown if the mothers ventured into water (though there are exceptions like the water opossum and the lutrine opossum).