Marsipulami

When we arrived at this house, my daughter told me there was a giant puppy on the couch.  I was a bit confused by this, but she showed me a human-sized stuffed animal sitting like a human would on the couch.  This was a bit odd, but I didn't think much of it until one of our speakers came over and said, "Oh, you have Marsupilami."  I had to ask him to repeat this several times, and finally he explained to me that the giant stuffed animal on the couch is actually a toy version of a Belgian cartoon character named Marsupilami.  Apparently the marsupilami is supposed to be a new species of animal, related in some way to monkeys (but with leopard-like spots) who features prominently in his own comic books and apparently a short-lived TV series.  Interestingly, one of our students seems to know all about him, having seen him on TV at some point.  I, on the other hand, was completely clueless about this Belgian cartoon character, and I'm not sure it's just my age.  I was surprised just to discover that he had a specific name and was representing a specific character.  So now I know.  You never know what you will learn when you set out to explore the world.