As famous as movie stars and global leaders are a bunch of animal celebs that the world grew to positively adore.
Koko, Knut, Elsa, Dolly, Hachiko, Jumbo...
The latest is the lil' macaque, residing in a Japanese zoo, named Punch-kun who has a heart-melting attachment to his Ikea plush toy.
Let's meet him and some of these other captivating cuties.
1. Punch-kun
At Ichikawa City Zoo, a motherless baby Japanese macaque shot to fame for his affection for his stuffed orangutan companion, with clips of the pair going viral on social media.
The orangutan toy comforts him in absence of his mother and friends/siblings. He has been trying to bond with the other simians in his enclosure but not always successfully and he goes back to his Ikea companion. He was rejected by his mother at birth for unknown reasons that some scientists ascribe to her not living in the wild.
2. Major General Sir Nils Olav III, King Penguin
This proud little fella -- a king penguin by species and the highest ranking penguin according to humans -- lives in Edinburgh zoo and serves as the mascot of the Norwegian King's Guard.
First enlisted in 1961, the penguin's rank rose with every official visit. In 2023, he was promoted to major general and recognised by Guinness World Records as a top specimen of his rank and file. Doesn't he look it?
3. Knut
Born in captivity, Knut was a polar bear at the Berlin zoological garden. Abandoned by his mother shortly after his arrival into this world, he was raised mostly by zookeeper Thomas Dorflein. He and his keeper went on to become a global sensations (Knutmania), bumping up visitor numbers at the zoo. All types of merchandise was named and created for him.
He died at just four from drowning brought on by an attack of encephalitis in front of hundreds of visitors.
Much of his life he was the centre of controversy as activists, zoo managements, animal specialists debated and disagreed on how and where he should be reared.
Photograph: Kind courtesy Peter Wilton/Wikimedia Commons
4. Diego
The Hood Island giant tortoise was transferred to a breeding initiative centre on Santa Cruz island in the Galapagos. He became famous for his randy ways siring over 900 young that were later reintroduced to Española island, in the same archipelago, helping the native population rebound to beyond 2,000 in the wild.
5. Paul The Octopus
The eight-armed mollusk of Sea Life Centre, Oberhausen, Germany, who was hatched from eggs in a Sea Life facility in Britain, gained fame for forecasting international football outcomes. His flawless predictions during the 2010 FIFA World Cup earned him global recognition as a remarkable animal soothsayer.
He steadily became so popular an app was created in his name and he featured as a character in a Chinese film about match fixing.
He died in 2010 having lived 2.5 years, an average octopus life span.
6. Joey
The sea otter, saved just 10 days after birth, was found mourning his deceased mother at Kyuquot, Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Raised with dedicated attention at Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Society, he later became a star of YouTube.
He celebrated his fifth rescueversary in July last year at the aquarium. Sea otters raised at the facility are not returned to the wild if they arrived at too young an age and have not learned to live on their own in the wild.
7. Lin Bing
Born May 27, 2009 at Chiang Mai Zoo, was Thailand's first panda cub and her name meant Forest of Ice.
Conceived via gamete intrafallopian transfer to parents Lin Hui and Chuang Chuang, her arrival followed carefully guided assisted reproduction techniques.
As per the panda diplomacy agreement she returned to China and now lives in Sichuan.
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