What do raccoons and possums have in common?
Raccoons and possums are both warm blooded, air breathing mammals. As mammals, they nurture their young on mothers' milk. Also, both being mammals, their limbs are oriented vertically, they have a four-chambered heart and they have a flexible neck with seven cervical vertebrae.
That is where the similarities end.
Raccoons are placental mammals and possums are marsupials. True possums are found in New Guinea, Australia (including Tasmania), Sulawesi (Indonesia) and a few other small islands in the Pacific region. Raccoons are mostly found in North America. Their feeding habits are different: raccoons are scavengers, but true possums are not.