Jimothy the raccoon is just the latest attraction in the year of the internet animal star

Arts admin July 25, 2026 0 Comments

Jimothy the raccoon is just the latest attraction in the year of the internet animal star

If you have an internet connection, you’ve probably seen Jimothy by now. The orb-like raccoon with a severely hunched back and spindly legs was caught on video by a Seattle resident on July 13 and quickly became an involuntary social media star, capturing the imagination and inspiring everything from T-shirts to theme songs. Life comes at you fast, Jimothy. Have another pizza crust.

Jimothy, who likely has a congenital condition called short spine syndrome, has the widespread appeal of a mythical creature, like an illustrated children’s book character. But he’s just the latest attraction in what has become the year of the viral social media animal star. Of course he didn’t ask for any of this. Fame can be a fickle beast for a beast.

Just ask a couple of 1-ton sea animals who went viral earlier this year. There’s Neil the Seal, the elephant seal from Tasmania who journeys to the coast twice a year to wreak camera-ready havoc (you probably don’t want to park your car in Neil’s vicinity). And Chonkers, the Steller sea lion who took up extended residence at San Francisco’s Pier 39 earlier this year and drew huge crowds with his chill demeanor and considerable girth. Chonkers is no dummy; he knows San Francisco has a killer food scene. Chonkers has returned to the sea, perhaps heading south for mating season, though you can still order your Chonkers Steller Sea Lion plush toy from the Marine Mammal Center.

None of this is necessarily new; cat videos were a staple of the early internet, and if you don’t love a charming animal, your character deserves to have aspersion cast upon it. (Full disclosure: I get excited every time I see a turkey on the streets of Cambridge.) But in the case of Jimothy, Neil, and Chonkers — and, before them, Flaco, the devilishly handsome Eurasian eagle-owl who escaped the Central Park Zoo in 2023 and became a star in the city where status matters most (if you can make it there, you can make it anywhere) — the real thrill comes with the sighting itself. When you see a movie star on the street, you tell your friends about the celebrity sighting. And when you see Jimothy roaming Seattle, you whip out your cellphone camera and bear witness for your social media followers. And then get to work designing T-shirts.

So here’s to you, Jimothy. You might not know it, but the whole world is watching.