The 1987 release of the first Marsupilami album marked the debut publication of the publishing house Marsu Productions, which was named after the character.

He successfully found one on his expedition to South America with Spirou and subsequently brought it to Europe,[6] where it later became the pair's pet.

This attack was responsible for the Danish and Norwegian translators choosing words similar to "spiral" over "marsupial" as the creature's name.

According to the L'Encyclopédie du Marsupilami, they are monotremes like the platypus and echidna, which explains why they lay eggs while having mammalian features.

[7] Like parrots and some corvid birds, the Marsupilami can also mimic human speech, and like an amphibian is able to breathe underwater as well as on land.

The appellation "The Marsupilami" originally referred to the individual captured and then adopted by Spirou and Fantasio, which they never bothered to name because he was the only known specimen.

The most frequently seen fur colours are yellow with black spots, yellow with no spots, and black all over, as these are the variations seen within the main Marsupilami family in the Marsupilami comic series; these are also the fur colours that are regularly seen in the French animated series featuring the same family.

An early example of an English-language translation of Spirou & Fantasio was published in 1960, when the Franquin story Le nid des Marsupilamis was printed in the weekly British boys' magazine Knockout, under the title Dickie and Birdbath Watch the Woggle.

"[15] One album of Spirou & Fantasio featuring Marsupilami, number 15, was translated to English by Fantasy Flight Publishing in 1995.

In 2007, Egmont's subsidiary Euro Books translated the Spirou & Fantasio albums numbered 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 and 14 into English for the Indian market.

Disney's version of the Marsupilami first appeared on television in his short series of the program Raw Toonage in 1992, and was then spun off into his own eponymous show on the CBS network and Syndication in 1993.

Marsupilami's supporting characters included among others Maurice the gorilla, Stewart the elephant, Eduardo the jaguar, Leonardo the lion, and Norman the poacher.

A second animated series, this time produced in France, premiered in March 2000 and ran for 26 episodes[23] on the French television channel Canal J.

Amanda is a Marsupilami researcher, while her husband David is a computer technician that works from home and they have two children, Leo and toddler Zoe.

The fourth series featured the Marsupilami family living with veterinarian Bernard Vanderstadt and his four children Sarah, Iris, Isidore and Zoe.

Among the countries to have received at least one season are Germany (Super RTL), Algeria (Programme National), Belgium (RTL TVI), Canada (Télé-Quebec and Unis TV), Estonia (ETV), Bulgaria (Super7), United Kingdom (Channel 4), Spain (Antena 3, Disney Channel, Toon Disney and TV3), Finland (MTV3), Cyprus (CyBC), Greece (Alter Channel), Ireland (RTÉ), Italy (Italia 1), Portugal (Prisvideo), Switzerland (TSR), Russia (THT Network), Hungary (Minimax), Slovenia (RTV), Serbia (Happy TV and Minimax), Montenegro (Happy TV and Minimax), Bosnia and Herzegovina (Minimax), North Macedonia (Minimax), Morocco (2M TV), Turkey (Yumurcak TV), Sri Lanka (Rupavahini), Mexico (Canal 22), Brazil (Rede Globo and SBT), Venezuela (RCTV), Indonesia (Rajawali Televisi and RCTI), Malaysia (TV3 and TV9), the Africa Pansat (CFI), Latin America (ZAZ), the Near East and Middle East (TV5 and E-Junior), Vietnam (HTV7), Thailand (United Broadcasting Corporation), South Korea (EBS), Iceland (Sjónvarpið), and South Africa (SABC).

On the Trail of the Marsupilami is a live-action, animated, comedy adventure film directed by Alain Chabat and released in 2012.

Chabat himself stars in the movie alongside Jamel Debbouze, Frédéric Testot, Géraldine Nakache, Lambert Wilson, Patrick Timsit, Liya Kebede, Aïssa Maïga and The Great Khali.

The central focus is on French reporter Dan Geraldo (Chabat) and Palombian vet Pablito Camaron (Debbouze), whose name humorously translates to Little Pablo Shrimp, as they go searching for the indigenous Paya people led by Queen Paya (Kebede).