Pygmy hippo Moo Deng is washed up and humiliated, having flunked all three of her football World Cup predictions. Punch the Japanese macaque orphaned in Ikea is so February. And if you can even remember Grumpy Cat, may she rest in peace.
As of today the internet belongs to Jimothy: a raccoon with a striking silhouette who has gone from a minor celebrity in Seattle to social media main character overnight. Jimothy is suddenly all over Instagram, and if you hover over the critter for so much as a nanosecond, he will be all you will ever see on your feed.
What is the deal with Jimothy, what’s the reason for his unique appearance – and what’s behind his rapid rise from contested local pest to celebrated internet pet?
He is a Seattle local
Jimothy is said to be a familiar sight in the Ballard neighbourhood of Seattle, instantly recognisable by his unusual short, round shape. Last week, Seattle resident Kiana Hall saw the raccoon while on an evening walk with her husband. She posted a video of him scampering across her path on Instagram with her exclaiming in the voiceover: “What am I looking at?” Hall gave the creature a name, declaring that she and her husband had been “graced with the presence of Jimothy” for their 13th anniversary. “He just looked like a ‘Jimothy’ to me,” Hall later told Today. “I don’t have any other explanation.” The raccoon’s unique shape generated instant intrigue and conversation, leading Instagram to push the video and send it viral. According to Know Your Meme, Hall’s video gained nearly 400,000 likes in six days. At the time of writing it has been viewed nearly 8m times.
His short, round shape sets him apart
Jimothy is assumed to have a rare genetic condition called short spine syndrome, resulting from compressed vertebrae. This is not necessarily painful but can cause issues with mobility (though Jimothy at least appears very agile) and leads to a distinctive body shape. Of course, this is key to the instant online enthusiasm for Jimothy, who follows in a long line of animals to be made internet famous, somewhat uneasily, for their differences. The original petfluencer Grumpy Cat had feline dwarfism; Tuna the chihuahua mix an extreme overbite. Pet dogs with short spine syndrome have gone viral in the past too.
He is a home-town hero …
What may set Jimothy apart in the internet’s archive of furry favourites is the speed and scale of his ascent. Two weeks ago, he didn’t have a name, nor did he have a reputation beyond the bins of an area of Seattle. Now his viral fame has made him a home-town hero, with the Mariners last week encouraging fans in the stadium to “make noise for Jimothy”. A mural of the raccoon has already been painted in his neighbourhood depicting him hiding behind a bin at a pottery studio, while a painting of Jimothy raised $6,500 (£4,900) for a local food bank at auction. On Sunday, city council member Alexis Mercedes Rinck will issue an “official city proclamation” celebrating the “majestic” raccoon and declaring summer 2026 “Jimothy Summer”.
… and also increasingly, absurdly, disproportionately famous
Online, Jimothy has a dedicated fandom on Reddit, drawing tens of thousands of weekly visitors. He has been commemorated in fan art, endless memes, gaming tributes (including his own 8-bit game), a custom Lego build and – unbelievably – at least two tattoos. On Monday, Jimothy was featured on The Daily Show. The same day he was invoked from space, with Nasa posting on Instagram a picture of Seattle taken from the International Space Station that highlighted the home of “the iconic raccoon”: “Jimothy runs this city.”
There is merch!
Naturally, the merchandising machine has leapt to cash in on Jimothy’s viral fame. The online marketplace Etsy already has more than 1,000 listings related to the raccoon, including stickers, clothing and tote bags. Many items champion Jimothy as a struggling iconoclast, with faux-inspirational mottoes such as “Stay weird”, “Doin’ my best” and “Protect at all cost”. “Hot Jimothy summer” is also catching on.
He (the raccoon) apparently had a loving family life
Little is known about Jimothy’s life pre-fame, but last week another Seattle resident identified as Ben Trammell posted a video of what appears to be baby Jimothy with his family. Trammell claimed Jimothy was born in a group of cedar trees in a neighbour’s back yard and he saw him “almost daily for months”. “He was so small and clumsy but his mother and siblings were always so patient and caring, keeping him from falling and sometimes just carrying him.”
Do not approach him
Jimothy’s reported stable early life will no doubt be helping him to navigate his sudden global celebrity – as well as the crushing silence when the internet moves on. “Hot Jimothy summer” will inevitably be remembered for about as long as the “hot rat summer” last year – also, interestingly, born out of Seattle. (That same year, the city also tried to make “Humpy the salmon” happen.)
Jimothy might be the city’s latest, biggest export, but his breakneck rise and commodification speaks loudest about the online economies of attention and audiences’ desperate desire for anything even the slightest bit positive to brighten their timelines. “Jimothy has come to us at a time where everyone needs something to rally around,” said the owner of the Ballard pottery studio that had the mural painted.
The official advice on Jimothy from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, meanwhile, has been to “leave him alone”.
