Editing Opossum (section)

== Diet ==
Opossums eat insects, [[rodent]]s, birds, eggs, frogs, plants, fruits and grain. Some species may eat the skeletal remains of rodents and [[roadkill]] animals to fulfill their calcium requirements.<ref>{{Cite web|title=What Do Possums Eat? Facts About Their Diet {{!}} Terminix|url=https://www.terminix.com/pest-control/opossums/diet/|website=Terminix.com|language=en|access-date=2020-05-29}}</ref> In captivity, opossums will eat practically anything including dog and cat food, livestock fodder and discarded human food scraps and waste.

Many large opossums (Didelphini) are immune to the venom of rattlesnakes and pit vipers ([[Crotalinae]]) and regularly prey upon these snakes.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Voss |first1=Robert S. |last2=Jansa |first2=Sharon A. |title=Snake-venom resistance as a mammalian trophic adaptation: lessons from didelphid marsupials |journal=Biological Reviews |date=November 2012 |volume=87 |issue=4 |pages=822–837 |doi=10.1111/j.1469-185X.2012.00222.x|pmid=22404916 |s2cid=21264310 }}</ref> This adaptation seems to be unique to the Didelphini, as their closest relative, the [[brown four-eyed opossum]], is not immune to snake venom.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Perales |first1=Jonas |last2=Moussatché |first2=Haity |last3=Marangoni |first3=Sergio |last4=Oliveira |first4=Benedito |last5=Domont |first5=Gilberto B. |title=Isolation and partial characterization of an anti-bothropic complex from the serum of South American Didelphidae |journal=Toxicon |date=October 1994 |volume=32 |issue=10 |pages=1237–1249 |doi=10.1016/0041-0101(94)90353-0|pmid=7846694 |bibcode=1994Txcn...32.1237P }}</ref> Similar adaptations are seen in other small predatory mammals such as [[mongooses]] and [[hedgehogs]]. Didelphin opossums and crotaline vipers have been suggested to be in an [[evolutionary arms race]]. Some authors have suggested that this adaptation originally arose as a defense mechanism, allowing a rare reversal of an evolutionary arms race where the former prey has become the predator,<ref name = Voss2013/> whereas others have suggested it arose as a predatory adaptation given that it also occurs in other predatory mammals and does not occur in opossums that do not regularly eat other vertebrates.<ref name = Engelman2017/> The [[Bothrops|fer-de-lance]], one of the most venomous snakes in the [[New World]], may have developed its highly potent venom as a means to prey on or a defense mechanism against large opossums.<ref name = Voss2013>{{cite journal |last1=Voss |first1=Robert S. |title=Opossums (Mammalia: Didelphidae) in the diets of Neotropical pitvipers (Serpentes: Crotalinae): Evidence for alternative coevolutionary outcomes? |journal=Toxicon |date=May 2013 |volume=66 |pages=1–6 |doi=10.1016/j.toxicon.2013.01.013|pmid=23402839 |bibcode=2013Txcn...66....1V }}</ref>