The Virginia opossum is North America’s only native marsupial, and its New Mexico records cluster around river-adjacent refuges, Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, the Rio Grande corridor, and Bitter Lake National Wildlife Refuge, the kind of wooded, water-adjacent lowland this adaptable omnivore favors in an otherwise dry state.
Sightings are modest at 22 total records, ranking the species among New Mexico’s less-recorded mammals (9.8th percentile). April stands out with 9 reports against one or two in most other months, though with a sample this small that spring bump could easily shift with just a few more observations.
NatureServe doesn’t assign the opossum a numeric conservation rank in New Mexico (SNA, Not Applicable), even though it’s treated as native to the state. That’s typical for a wide-ranging generalist whose New Mexico range has likely expanded alongside irrigation and development, not one facing any conservation concern.
Full species profile
