opossum: The American one.

possum: Could refer to either kind of animal.

Failing to acknowledge that it's like that in reality will only cause further confusion.

it would have been wise to label which one is which?

(left one is opossum, right one is possum)

This article is not a good source.

1. Possums are not native to China or new Zealand. Australia is correct but they can also be native to New Guinea and parts of Indonesia.
2. Certain species of possums like the ringtail can have partially hairless tails.
3. When comparing to Australia's most common possum (Brushtail, max 4.5kg), the Virginia opossum is bulkier but has roughly the same body length. The largest possum (Bear Cuscus is nearly twice as big)
4. Sources vary but it's clear there are significantly more opossum species than possum species.Possums species are much more distinct though.

Until right now I thought they were just different spellings of a word that meant the same thing. Like “color” and “colour”.

They are the Oppossite of one another

possums are native to Australia, New Zealand, and China.

God DAMN they must be good swimmers

Edit: Occam's razor. The article is misinformation, and they're just native in Australia

One has a Japanese honorific prefix and the other does not.

"course fur"

Before AI I could just chalk it up to an intern writer or something. Now I don't know.

They’re two completely different species. The one with the O is North American, and the other is Australian. They only got the same name because people are lazy.

Not happy with all the anti-possum ads on that page. Opossums are beneficial good creatures, just leave em be.

I had no idea.

Wow. The one is in black and white, the other in color.

O

Herr's a handy video to explain the difference. Too bad I can never remember anything said.

One is Irish.

The main difference is that people commonly refer to opossums as possums, but rarely the other way 'round.