Possums are marsupials that became a late-2010s meme built on photos of the animals baring teeth, hissing or looking chaotic, with captions written in the animal's imagined voice[1].

Where did Possums come from?

The Twitter account @own___ass launched as a dedicated possum-meme feed on January 6th, 2018, and Olivia's O'meme Outlet's Interview Possum post that February cemented the format[4][1].

What does Possums mean?

In meme use, 'possum' stands for a misunderstood, trash-eating outsider with strong opinions; Urban Dictionary also logs 'Possums!' as a shortened form of 'Awesome Possum,' used as an exclamation of joy[5].

How do you use Possums?

Common uses include captioning a wild-eyed or tooth-baring possum with unhinged first-person opinions, or writing whatever the 'Interview Possum' is yelling into the reporter's mic, a format built around Sand Mountain Sam[1].

Is Possums still popular?

The peak was 2018, when @own___ass, Olivia's O'meme Outlet and Daily Dot coverage drove the wave[1]; the format is still recognized as a fixture of late-2010s animal meme culture.

Possums

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Published September 23, 2026

Possums are the beady-eyed marsupials that became one of 2018's breakout animal memes, powered by photos of the creatures baring teeth, screaming into microphones, and looking generally chaotic. Twitter and Facebook meme accounts turned their outsider reputation into viral formats like Interview Possum and 'hey i'm down here.'

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Overview

Possum memes lean on the animal's ugly-cute contradiction. Common posts feature bared teeth, gaping mouths or dazed expressions, captioned with first-person thoughts that treat the possum like a chaotic goblin with strong opinions about pineapple pizza, personal grievances or its own diet1. Fans of the format frame the animal as a misunderstood tick-eater whose bad reputation misses the point1.

The 'Interview Possum' template is the format's signature joke. It shows a reporter's microphone held up to Sand Mountain Sam, an Alabama Groundhog Day weather-predicting possum, with a caption imagining whatever opinion the animal is yelling into the mic1. Other posts run cute-baby-possum photos with tiny-voice captions, or use shots of possums screaming, hissing or eating things they shouldn't.

Origin & Background

Platform

Twitter / Facebook (viral spread)

Date

2018

Online fandom for possums predates the meme era. The National Opossum Society had run opossum.com starting October 12th, 1998, offering care guides and general education about the marsupial4.

The format most people mean by 'possum memes' formed in early 2018. Twitter account @own___ass, dedicated to possum posts, launched on January 6th, 2018, mixing original jokes with follower submissions4. About a month later, on February 2nd, Facebook page Olivia's O'meme Outlet posted the Interview Possum image of Sand Mountain Sam captioned 'Pineapple is stored on the pizza,' the shot Daily Dot later credited as the wave's breakout post1.

How It Spread

Older material resurfaced alongside the 2018 boom, including years-old YouTube videos of possums eating strawberries and infant Virginia possums that pulled renewed attention2 3.

Twitter account @own___ass hit its own peak in May 2018 with a two-panel baby-possum shot captioned 'hey i'm down here' that ran up tens of thousands of retweets and likes4. On August 1st, 2018, Daily Dot published a full write-up on the wave, quoting Olivia Graves of Olivia's O'meme Outlet, who argued that people had misread possums as useless pests when the animals mostly just eat ticks and want to be left alone1. Graves credited the versatility of the Sand Mountain Sam Interview Possum shot with proving the animal's potential as an internet mascot1.

How to Use This Meme

Typical possum posts take a photo of a possum in an unflattering pose (bared teeth, wide eyes, mid-hiss) and pair it with a first-person caption written in the animal's imagined voice. The Interview Possum variant frames Sand Mountain Sam as a spokesperson yelling opinions into a reporter's mic, with the joke usually being what unhinged take the possum is defending1. Cute-baby-possum photos get the softer treatment, with tiny-voice captions.

Possums

Overview

Origin & Background

How It Spread

How to Use This Meme

Frequently Asked Questions

References (5)