Do opossums dream?

When asked, this is the response our contributing opossum provided:  

“Yes of course we dream! I have wonderful dreams of all sorts, about the things I love. Apple dreams are my favorite, the aroma of a fresh juicy apple makes my mouth water just by thinking about it. I also sometimes dream about grapes and pears - they are among my favorite foods, don't you know. I can smell them all so well, I can almost taste them while I’m sleeping.  Sometimes I have bad dreams, in those I pick up the scent of a fox or a coyote right outside my den– those dreams scare me. But usually, I dream about all the wonderful smells I’ve experienced and the things I am eager to find again.”

New England Opossums's Contributing Opossum, snoozing in a safe backyard, summer 2025

Now that we’ve heard from our contributing opossum, let’s have a look at the science. Yes, opossums dream as do many animals. Opossums exhibit REM (rapid eye movement) during sleep which is associated with a dream state. However, their dream state is likely very different than ours. Our dreams come to us as visual images sometimes with sound. Sight and sound are among our most important senses - it is natural for our dreams to mirror life as we perceive it through our senses. An opossum’s sight and hearing are not their most important senses; they may not play any role at all in their dreams.

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Smell is the sense they rely on heavily - their sense of smell is among the best of any animal on earth.

It is likely an opossum’s dreams may be smells only, no visuals no sound.

Imagine you are sitting in a chair blindfolded wearing ear plugs and someone waves a freshly sliced apple under your nose. That fragrance might give you a pleasant feeling.

We expect an opossum’s dream may be similar.  Because the opossum’s sense of smell is so extraordinary dreaming of that smell would likely illicit a sense of contentment or pleasure we can’t begin to imagine.  

So, yes! Opossums do dream. And like us their dreams are most likely shaped based on their experiences in the awakened world as they perceive them. 

Works consulted:

• Our contributing opossum

• My own observations of all of the opossums I have been privileged to know over the years

And of course:

• Sleep in the opossum Didelphis marsupialis; Henry Van Twyyer and Truett Allison Electroencephalography and Clinical Neurophy: Volume 29, Issue 2, August 1970, Pages 181-189.

• Monotremes and the evolution of rapid eye movement sleep; J. M. Siegel, P. R. Manger, R. Nienhuis, H. M. Fahringer and J. D. Pettigrew Neurobiology Research, North Hills, CA, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia 1998.

• The animals that could be dreaming  3 September 2023 Carolyn Wilke  BBC from KnowableMagazine.