9 Famous Internet Animals We Love ...

By Lauren Cochrane

If you're having a bad day, what better way to cheer up than by looking at adorable famous internet animals! It's no secret that cats seem to rule the internet, but there are also tons of dogs, chipmunks, and monkeys who have made the cut! So get ready to see a whole lot of cuteness while we go over these 9 famous internet animals we love! I'll also be giving you a little back story for each animal with the reasoning behind their fame.

1. Boo

 

First up on our countdown of famous internet animals has been nicknamed "The World's Cutest Dog." His real name is Boo and he is a Pomeranian that became an adorable internet sensation! Starting out, Boo's owner originally created a Facebook page for her dog with the statement "My name is Boo. I am a dog. Life is good." He became popular in October 2010 after Ke$ha sent a tweet that she had a new boyfriend, linking to the page, and Khloé Kardashian called him the "cutest dog on the planet." Following Boo's fame, there have been two picture books released, as well as a stuffed animal and calendar.

Maru

Maru is an adorable male Scottish Fold cat from Japan who has become well-known on YouTube for the videos of him jumping into small cardboard boxes and sliding across his owner’s wooden floor. Currently, Maru's total video views have reached over 200,000,000! His owner does not show her face on camera or speak in the videos but posts them under the account name 'mugumogu' on YouTube. Since Maru's first video appearance in 2007, he has won a few awards, been mentioned on TV as well as in publications, and even has his own photo book that was published! How can anyone watch these videos and not smile?

Grumpy cat
  

This little guy is still riding the internet fame wave by recently being on a bunch of TV talk shows. Grumpy Cat is the nickname given to an angry-looking snowshoe cat that rose to fame after his pictures were posted to Reddit in late September 2012. He soon became a meme and the rest is history. There's no doubt you've seen him in some form or another while surfing the internet. I can't believe a frown could actually make so many people smile!

Honey badger

The Honey Badger is a viral video featuring nature documentary footage with voice over narration provided by Randall, a self-proclaimed animal lover who has since launched a successful YouTube series of similar videos. The Honey Badger video gained a great deal of popularity in early 2011 and has created a line of funny merchandise. Quotes like "Drink like a Honey Badger" are now circulating on flasks and "Ask me why I don't care" T-Shirts are available with the Honey Badger's face. Just a warning that the video has some language in it not meant for children!

Ikea Monkey

IKEA Monkey is the nickname given to a Japanese snow macaque named Darwin that was found loose wearing a coat at a Canadian IKEA store in December of 2012. A Twitter user originally tweeted a photograph of the IKEA monkey and within three days, the tweet received over 415 retweets and 158 favorites! This eventually spread to Reddit, Gawker, and even TV news stations! The monkey was taken by animal control after the incident and its owner is still fighting to get Darwin returned to her.

Dramatic Chipmunk

 

Dramatic Chipmunk (Dramatic Prairie Dog) is a short video clip featuring a prairie dog from the Japanese TV show Hello! Morning. On June 6th, 2007, a YouTube user uploaded a clip titled “Dramatic Look” featuring the footage of  the prairie dog from the Japanese TV show, set to a sample audio taken from the 1974 film Young Frankenstein. Today, the video has reached over 37,000,000 views!

Nyan Cat

Nyan Cat is an 8-bit animation depicting a cat with the body of a cherry Pop Tart flying through outer space. The Pop Tart Cat animation was originally posted on the daily comics site LOL-COMICS by illustrator Chris Torres in April 2011. Soon after, a YouTuber posted a video titled Nyan Cat using the Pop Tart Cat animation set to the well-known Japanese Vocaloid song "Nyanyanyanyanyanyanya." The video gained over one million views in its first two weeks and thus how Nyan Cat became so famous.

Cupcake Dog

 

Cupcake Dog is the nickname given to “Staines,” an Australian Shepherd dog who made his TV debut on Animal Planet’s dog training show “It’s Me or the Dog.” The clip was soon picked up by “The Soup” on January 29th, 2009, eventually spawning many other modified versions within just a few days with millions of viewer hits on YouTube. I myself could not stop laughing the first time I ever watched this video!

Charlie The Unicorn

 

Not so much a real animal, but I figured if Nyan Cat made it on the list then I had to include Charlie the Unicorn. Charlie the Unicorn is a series of three popular viral videos created by Jason Steele, creator of FilmCow.com. Jason first uploaded Charlie the Unicorn to Newgrounds.com under the username TypeQueen on November 26th, 2005. Today, the first video in the series has over 65,000,000 views! If you only like to watch logical videos, then this cartoon is not for you.