From the first domestication of wolves into the loveable dogs we have today to the royal cats of ancient Egypt to the modern day proliferation of cat videos on the internet, it’s clear that humans have always loved animals. The cuter, the better. In the past few years, there’s been an explosion of cute animal content- and in this article, we’re going to track some of our favourites.
1. Moo Deng – Picking Up This Cute Little Pygmy
Born in July 2024 at a zoo in Thailand, Moo Deng (which means “bouncy pork”) took over the internet by storm. Her charm lies in her temper tantrums- disproportionate to her size- and her adorable clumsiness. One minute she’s biting a zookeeper’s knee with her toothless mouth, the next she’s slipping on her own feet and falling over. She is, and I mean this with full adoration, a little terror- and yet, watching her live her little life feels weirdly therapeutic.
2. Pesto – The Preciously Large Penguin
Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium gave us Pesto, a king penguin chick so enormous and so covered in brown downy fluff that people couldn’t look away. This bird weighed over 22 kilograms and towered over every other penguin in sight. He was dubbed “chonky.” He was called a “fluffy king.” If you ask me though, he is a perfect, ridiculous puffball.
3. Hua Hua – Honest, Heartfelt, and Hilarious
Hua Hua—a resident of the Chengdu Research Base in China—rose to fame because she looks exactly like a Japanese rice ball. Add to that her slow, gentle walk and her habit of giving away her bamboo to other pandas without a fight, and you have an animal that somehow makes being a doormat look noble.
4. Angela – Wait Is She…Standing?
Have you ever seen a bear stand? In 2023, Angela, a sun bear living at a zoo in China, looked at the crowd, and waved. The internet, being the internet, immediately decided she must be a person in a costume. The zoo had to issue official statements insisting that no, she is a real bear. Angela didn’t mean to confuse us. She just happened to have better posture than most humans.
5. Punch – The Saddest Monkey Around
In 2025, a baby Japanese macaque named Punch went viral—not for being cute, but for being heartbreaking. Abandoned by his mother at just six months old, Punch was seen clutching a small orangutan plush toy for comfort. He was picked on by other monkeys. He got dragged across the ground. But he kept holding onto his toy. Throughout it all, Punch held onto his orangutan plush, and his plight caused the internet to cry in pain. He was not meant for entertainment, but to connect.
Sometimes the best part of the internet is the reminder that we share this planet with creatures who are weird, resilient, and unexpectedly delightful. May your feed be forever full of bouncing hippos, chonky penguins, and screaming sea lions.
Photo by Yuvy Dhaliah on Unsplash
