Virginia opossum
E452408
The Virginia opossum is North America’s only native marsupial, a nocturnal omnivore known for “playing dead” as a defense mechanism and thriving in a wide range of habitats, including forests and urban areas.
All labels observed (3)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Virginia opossum canonical | 4 |
| Didelphis virginiana | 1 |
| North American opossum | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T4565662 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Virginia opossum Context triple: [Carolinian forest, hasFauna, Virginia opossum]
-
A.
Indiana bat
The Indiana bat is a small, federally endangered North American bat species that roosts in caves and forests and plays an important role in insect control.
-
B.
Indian crested porcupine
The Indian crested porcupine is a large, nocturnal rodent native to South Asia, easily recognized by its long, erectile quills and robust, burrowing lifestyle.
-
C.
Porcupine
Porcupine is a historic mining community and neighborhood within the city of Timmins in northeastern Ontario, Canada.
-
D.
Volpe
Volpe is an Italian surname borne by various notable individuals in politics, sports, and the arts.
-
E.
Chinchilla
Chinchilla is a rural town in Queensland, Australia, known for its melon farming and biennial Chinchilla Melon Festival.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Virginia opossum Target entity description: The Virginia opossum is North America’s only native marsupial, a nocturnal omnivore known for “playing dead” as a defense mechanism and thriving in a wide range of habitats, including forests and urban areas.
-
A.
Indiana bat
The Indiana bat is a small, federally endangered North American bat species that roosts in caves and forests and plays an important role in insect control.
-
B.
Indian crested porcupine
The Indian crested porcupine is a large, nocturnal rodent native to South Asia, easily recognized by its long, erectile quills and robust, burrowing lifestyle.
-
C.
Porcupine
Porcupine is a historic mining community and neighborhood within the city of Timmins in northeastern Ontario, Canada.
-
D.
Volpe
Volpe is an Italian surname borne by various notable individuals in politics, sports, and the arts.
-
E.
Chinchilla
Chinchilla is a rural town in Queensland, Australia, known for its melon farming and biennial Chinchilla Melon Festival.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (66)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
mammal
ⓘ
marsupial ⓘ species ⓘ |
| activityPattern | nocturnal ⓘ |
| adaptation | tolerance of human-modified environments ⓘ |
| assessedBy |
IUCN Red List
ⓘ
linked to:
IUCN Red List of Threatened Species
|
| averageLitterSize | 8 to 9 young ⓘ |
| averageWeight | about 2 to 6 kilograms ⓘ |
| behavior | solitary ⓘ |
| binomialName | Didelphis virginiana ⓘ |
| bodyLength | about 35 to 55 centimeters ⓘ |
| class | Mammalia ⓘ |
| coatColor | grayish ⓘ |
| commonName |
North American opossum
ⓘ
linked to:
Virginia opossum
Virginia opossum ⓘ |
| conservationStatus | Least Concern ⓘ |
| defenseMechanism |
emitting foul-smelling fluid
ⓘ
playing dead ⓘ thanatosis ⓘ |
| diet | omnivorous ⓘ |
| eats |
carrion
ⓘ
fruits ⓘ grains ⓘ human food waste ⓘ insects ⓘ small vertebrates ⓘ |
| ecologicalRole |
insect predator
ⓘ
scavenger ⓘ seed disperser ⓘ |
| faceColor | white ⓘ |
| family | Didelphidae ⓘ |
| genus | Didelphis ⓘ |
| gestationPeriod | about 12 to 13 days ⓘ |
| habitat |
forests
ⓘ
suburban areas ⓘ urban areas ⓘ woodlands ⓘ |
| hasFeature |
opposable hallux on hind feet
ⓘ
pointed snout ⓘ prominent whiskers ⓘ |
| hasPouch | true ⓘ |
| hasTailType | prehensile tail ⓘ |
| hasTeethCount | 50 teeth ⓘ |
| infraclass | Marsupialia ⓘ |
| introducedTo |
California
ⓘ
linked to:
California, United States
Pacific Northwest of North America ⓘ
linked to:
Pacific Northwest
Some Caribbean islands ⓘ Western Canada ⓘ |
| kingdom | Animalia ⓘ |
| lifespanInWild | about 2 to 4 years ⓘ |
| nativeTo |
Central America
ⓘ
Mexico ⓘ North America ⓘ United States ⓘ
linked to:
United States of America
|
| notableBehavior |
climbing using prehensile tail and feet
ⓘ
hissing and growling when threatened ⓘ |
| order | Didelphimorphia ⓘ |
| phylum | Chordata ⓘ |
| reproductiveStrategy | gives birth to highly altricial young ⓘ |
| sheltersIn |
abandoned structures
ⓘ
burrows ⓘ tree cavities ⓘ |
| susceptibilityToRabies | low ⓘ |
| tailLength | about 25 to 54 centimeters ⓘ |
| taxonRank | species ⓘ |
| thermoregulation | relatively low body temperature ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Virginia opossum Description of subject: The Virginia opossum is North America’s only native marsupial, a nocturnal omnivore known for “playing dead” as a defense mechanism and thriving in a wide range of habitats, including forests and urban areas.
Referenced by (6)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.
linked to: Virginia opossum
linked to: Virginia opossum