This beautiful left front opossum track shows all the details very well. The tiny inner toe, or thumb, is easy to make out on the left side. The five toes, splayed due to the mud substrate are visible. Claws even left imprints on a couple toes. Compare this track with those on the raccoon page. The front track of the opossum can be confused with the raccoon's tracks easily.

This clear right hind opossum track shows the opposable thumb very well. This characteristic sets opossums apart from other north American mammals. Opossums are the only one of our wild mammal species that has an opposable thumb. There are Australian species that have this feature, but the opossum is the lone representative in North America.

Beautiful right front track covered by right hind track. The hind track is a nearly perfect specimen of an opossum track. You can clearly see that the thumb lacks a claw. The other toes all have claws. The middle three toes are aligned next to each other and face the same direction. This is a real beauty! Yes, trackers get very excited about things like this. :)

This pair of opossum tracks shows a perfect left front and a perfect left hind. This fine mud held nice imprints and showed a lot of detail. These are classic opossum tracks!

Here is another nice example of the left hind footprint of an opossum. The thumb clearly shows here, as do the other four toes.

This was an exceptionally good pair of opossum tracks found in soft dusty soil. The fine soil captured the details of the feet quite well. These are the left front and left hind tracks of the opossum.

Another beautiful pair of opossum tracks in mud. In this case, a worm has made its way across that left front track, underground. There is also evidence of worm castings near the outer toe on the left hind track. These are fine opossum tracks!

The tracks above came from the same opossum that left the tracks in the photo above this one. This shows a nice example of how tracks can look different depending on the soil or the substrate. in this case, the sane was more firm than the fine mud was. The opossum did not sink as deeply into the sand and did not leave imprints that are as deep or clear as those above in mud. This is true for all animals and humans. The substrate you walk on makes a big difference in the appearance of the tracks you leave behind.

Two left hind opossum tracks. These footprints show the opposable thumb that makes this animal unique in North America.

A pair of left tracks. The hind track overlaps that of the front foot.

A nice opossum walking gait pattern in mud near a river. The hind tracks land on top of the front tracks. The direction of travel is from the bottom toward the top of the photo.

A set of opossum tracks, showing the left hind track on top of the left front track. The opposable thumb is very easy to see in these prints.

A perfect set of left footprints from an opossum. These were photographed in light conditions such that, at times, the tracks can appear to pop off the page. This is an optical illusion that sometimes happens with track photos.

A beautiful left hind track from an opossum. Notice the thumb lacks a claw.

A section of river bar with tracks of several species, including raccoon, gray fox, and opossum.

The left front and hind tracks of an opossum on top of the tracks of a gray squirrel. The opossum's direction of travel was toward the top of the photo. The squirrel was going in the opposite direction.

The left hind pawprint of an opossum. Note the nice imprint of the opposable thumb.

The front and hind tracks of an opossum. These are the left tracks.

A nice set of right tracks from an opossum. These show a bit more wear and tear than the ones above.

This is just a function of the mud that was walked in.

A good set of opossum tracks. These are the prints of the left hind and left front paws. Notice the large opposable thumb on the hind track, which is the lower one.

A nice front opossum track in snow. Photo donated. (Thank you!)