Caluromys derbianus
Silhouette: Milena Cavalcanti, Patricia Pilatti & Diego Astúa · PhyloPic
In 3 days ~40% in a week ~70%
Derby's woolly opossum (Caluromys derbianus), or the Central American woolly opossum, is an opossum found in deciduous and moist evergreen forests of Central America, from southern Mexico to western Ecuador and Colombia. It was first described by English naturalist George Robert Waterhouse, and named in honor of Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby. Derby's woolly opossum is the largest in its genus, with a total length of 60 to 70 centimetres (24 to 28 in) and weight between 200 and 400 grams (7.1 and 14.1 oz). The coat is brown and the underside white-buff to golden-brown. The opossum is nocturnal (active mainly at night), arboreal (tree-living) and solitary. Diet consists of fruits, nectar, small invertebrates and vertebrates. The time when breeding takes place varies geographically. The litter size ranges from one to six. The IUCN classifies this opossum as least concern.
Derby's woolly opossum is one of the three members of Caluromys, and is placed in the family Didelphidae. It was first described by English naturalist George Robert Waterhouse as Didelphis derbianus in 1841. He was named in honor of Edward Smith-Stanley, 13th Earl of Derby, to whose... Wikipedia →
Uncertain0:32
Guatemala · 2023
© Enrique Mejía · XC992852 · CC BY-NC-SA 4.0
| # | Park | Country | Daily sighting probability |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Bastimentos Island National Marine Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 2 | Masaya Volcano National Park | 🇳🇮 Nicaragua | |
| 3 | Braulio Carrillo National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 4 | Soberanía National Park | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 5 | Tortuguero National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 6 | Tenorio Volcano National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 7 | La Amistad International Park (Panama) | 🇵🇦 Panama | |
| 8 | Los Nevados National Natural Park | 🇨🇴 Colombia | |
| 9 | Corcovado National Park | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica | |
| 10 | Monteverde Cloud Forest Reserve | 🇨🇷 Costa Rica |
Possible
About 20% of wildlife watchers report a Derby's Woolly Opossum sighting in Soberanía National Park on a given day, based on 37 verified sightings from GBIF citizen-science data from 2019 to 2026. It is the 16th most-seen of the 36 mammals we can rate there. Over three days the chance rises to about 40%, and over a week to about 70%, if each day is a fresh chance.
October
In that month about 40% of wildlife watchers report a Derby's Woolly Opossum in Soberanía National Park on a given day, against under 5% in May, the lowest month. That is one of Soberanía National Park's wettest months, with about 330 mm of rain against 25 mm in February.
Between 7 and 10 pm
Across all the parks we cover, that three-hour window holds the most Derby's Woolly Opossum sightings with a recorded time, and about 6 in 10 of them come between 6 pm and 6 am: it is seen both by day and at night.
4th of 10
Of the 10 parks where we can rate Derby's Woolly Opossum sightings, Soberanía National Park ranks 4th at about 20%. The best odds are in Bastimentos Island National Marine Park (Panama, about 30%), Masaya Volcano National Park (Nicaragua, about 20%) and Braulio Carrillo National Park (Costa Rica, about 20%).
GBIF citizen-science records
It is estimated from how often the Derby's Woolly Opossum is recorded against all the mammals logged in Soberanía National Park (37 verified sightings from 2019 to 2026), calibrated against known sighting rates. Figures are rounded to the nearest 10% because citizen-science data supports honest approximations, not decimals, and months with records from fewer than five people show "—". How it works.
