Where do possums come from?

But first, the burning question: is it opossum or possum? In 1608, Capt. John Smith coined the word opossum from the word "opassum," the Algonquian term meaning "white animal." In his notes, the captain wrote: "An Opassom hath an head like a Swine, and a taile like a Rat, and is of the bignes of a Cat. read more

This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Possum. If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. read more

Possums include any of several species (from the family Phalangeridae) of nocturnal, arboreal marsupials of Australia and New Guinea, and were mistakenly named in the 18th century when the naturalist from Capt. James Cook’s expedition wrongly called them possums after their North American cousins. read more

We have a possum that comes into our garage each night to eat the cat food we leave out for it. It is usually between 9:30 and 10:30 when he arrives. read more