What is the difference between a possum and a opossum

The "opossum" of North America is a rat like animal that is a marsupial like the Brush tailed Possum which is a native of Australia and prolific in New Zealand. The brush tailed possum is related to kangaroos and wallabies and carries its young in a pouch as typical of the marsupials. The North American Opossum is a carnivore where as the Brush tail possum eats shoots and leaves. typically the North American Possum does not carry its young in the pouch

  

Brush Tailed Possum                     American Opossum

 

• Opossums are found only in North America, although there is a "water possum", also known as the yapok, which is found in central and South America.

• Brush tailed possums are found in New Guinea, Australia (including Tasmania), Sulawesi (Indonesia) and a few other small islands in the Pacific region. Although not native to New Zealand, the brush-tailed possum was introduced into that country over a century ago and has subsequently become a pest due to the devastation caused by the possums eating the tree foliage.

• The North American Opossum has a bare tail. All varieties of Australian possums have furry tails.

• There are many varieties of possums in Australia (and New Guinea), including Gliders and the Cuscus. There are more limited species of the opossum.

• Captain Cook's botanist, Sir Joseph Banks, named the Australian animal "Possum", referring to it as "an animal of the Opossum tribe" because he believed there was a physical resemblance.

• Opossums were named by Captain John Smith in 1612.