Showing posts with label Animals. Show all posts

Local Internet Boy Makes Good, and Other Talking Animal Stories

This post was authored by Bailey Johnson of CBSNews.com's The Feed for a YouTube Trends series exploring viral video phenomena.

It’s always fun when the big boys in old media notice the Internet. When Hollywood executives deign to notice the little people here online, someone always goes home happy. Or if not happy, at least with a little more padding in their wallet. Today, that someone is Andrew Grantham, creator of his own Talking Animals channel and producer of the second most-watched clip of 2011 (after Rebecca Black's "Friday"): “Ultimate Dog Tease.”

You’ve seen it haven’t you? So have over 94 million other people.



Oh man, it’s so great. I’ve watched this video many, many times (I’m not the only one, right? Right?) So it’s thrilling to hear that “Ultimate Dog Tease” is currently being developed into a feature film by Paramount Studios. How exactly they plan on turning an 80-second long clip into a full length movie is anyone’s guess. But it got us thinking: what other talking animals should get the Hollywood treatment?



Mishka the Talking Husky, of course! This popular pooch has been in the game for a while now. She became a break-out star back in 2008 by howling something that sounded an awful lot like, “I love you.” Can Miska: The Movie be far behind? She even has her comedic sidekick ready in Laika, the other dog in the above video.
But what if Hollywood is looking for more than just talking dogs?



Meet Teddy Bear, the future star of “Ultimate Dog Tease 2: More Than Just Talking Dogs.” Teddy is already a star at Zooniversity, a Texas-based wildlife education company. Why not take the next step? Maybe he’s waiting for his moment. When it’s 2017 and we’re all jaded about the release of yet another talking dog movie, Teddy will pop back up to save us from the tedium. It’s only a matter of time.

But is there another breed of animal destined for stardom? Perhaps another common domestic pet, beloved by millions and ready or the silver screen?



Guess not.

Today's Trend analysis provided by
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Nature vs. Man: Trending Videos from South Africa

Rising on YouTube this afternoon is the search term "antelope hits mountain biker." It's a reference to one of today's heavily-searched and top-trending videos, the footage of team Jeep mountain biker Evan van der Spuy and his unexpected collision with a red hartebeest antelope in Albert Falls Dam, South Africa:



That video has quickly reached over three million views.

But there have been some other videos this October that have been trending in South Africa and depict some more unfortunate meetings of man and nature. This video was captured in the moments following a shark attack in Fish Hoek in late September. (Here's video of another shark in that area a week later.) This clip has been viewed over one million times.



We also saw trending video last week of a deadly tornado that was spotted by a number of bystanders in Duduza near Johannesburg. There are many clips that have been posted, this one is one of the more widely-seen ones:
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Cold War of Cute Cats (or how I stopped worrying and learned to love adorable feline videos)

This post was authored by Bailey Johnson of CBSNews.com's The Feed for a YouTube Trends series exploring viral video phenomena.

We live in a brave new world of viral videos. Cute cats, once the sole domain of the U.S. and Japan, have gone global. We see a lot of videos over at The Feed, and we’ve been struck recently by the amount of content coming out of Russia. As with so many other things in the world today, America is losing its competitive edge. We cannot allow a viral video gap!

Seriously though, adorable pets are universal, and it’s great to watch what appears to be a viral renaissance taking place in the Motherland. According to YouTube Trends data, the number of videos on YouTube with the Russian words for 'cat' in the title uploaded in September is already double the number uploaded in September of 2010.

Did you see the incredible Spider Cat? So did 1.1 million other people.



This video is unusual in that the people are actually speaking Russian. (It’s also usual because that cat climbs up a freaking wall, but I digress.) Most of the pet clips we see from the Ruskies hit the viral sweet spot: they’re short, sweet, and (other than the sound of the animal stars) silent. Ignoring the Cyrillic in the titles, you’d never know where these videos came from.



Then again, maybe part of the renaissance is happening on this side of the Atlantic. Maybe those of us in the States are finally taking notice of the Russian phenomenon. This video of a cat having printer problems is similar to another video from 2008 that racked up 2.2 million views.



Whatever the case, it’s always funny seeing cats fall down, I mean, it’s great to see that the things that bind us together (watching cats fall down) outweigh the things that tear us apart. Pretty deep thought for a couple of cute cats, huh?

Bailey Johnson is an editor at CBSNews.com's The Feed. He spends a lot of time watching other people's pets.
Today's Trend analysis provided by
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What They're Watching: Lacey the Alpaca

This post was authored by Michelle Castillo as a part of a YouTube Trends series exploring the videos being watched this week by the team at What's Trending.

Interspecies mingling proves that we can all get along. After all, if this alpaca with hot pink nails can nuzzle a kitten, well then peace between people is surely possible.



In honor of pro-interspecies amicable relations, here’s our favorite co-mingling animals doing what they do best: Looking cute and playing together.

Llama loves kitten? Here’s a kitten loving a llama right back at you (and some weird chicken that’s just chilling on the South American animal.)



Everyone loves NYPD horses, but this NYPD horse has eyes for no one but this bulldog.



This dog is living out that fantasy dolphin swim that most of us dream of doing.



And, proving that even natural enemies can get along, here’s a snake and a hamster that share the same cage because they’re friends.



Today's "What They're Watching" recap provided by
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What They're Watching: Pooches with Talent

This post was authored by Michelle Castillo as a part of a YouTube Trends series exploring the videos being watched this week by the team at What's Trending.

If you're like me, you're pretty impressed by your dog being able to sit, stay and smile on command. But, every once in a while, you'll go on YouTube and find dog tricks so amazing, it pretty much renders your pooch useless.

Petey is probably one of the best volleyball players you'll see. Before you say he has an advantage since he has four legs and can get to the ball quicker, remember those paws aren't exactly adapted for bumping, setting and spiking. He's probably a killer at those soccer ball headers as well.



For other things you wish you could teach your dog to do, check out the best dog tricks we've seen on YouTube.

Jessie is the cutest Jack Russell terrier you'll ever see, and probably the most useful when it comes to household chores. The dog can change the bed, get his own food and make you toast.



Okay, this dog is cheating, but since he can't hold the pool stick properly, we'll make an exception.



I've been trying to teach my dog this trick forever. Maggie was one of my inspirations.



Who says you can't teach an old cat dog tricks?





Today's "What They're Watching" recap provided by
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Entertaining Aquarium Mammals

Interesting animal videos have been an online staple for years, but lately some seals, whales, and other aquatic mammals have been enjoying some time in the spotlight.

In the past three months, we spotted two heart-warming, adorable clips of seals being released back into the wild, while two videos of a whale rolling and a whale rescue have been viewed over five million times combined.

While those might not be all that unusual, here's a odd trend: recently, we've seen three different, popular videos of aquarium mammals enjoying themselves on the other side of the glass. Yesterday's animal video of the day was this very very strange clip of a Beluga whale enjoying some mariachi music at a Connecticut aquarium. It's been seen nearly half a million times in 24 hours:



Last week, this clip of a baby hippo dancing underwater at the San Diego Zoo picked up roughly the same number of views:



But the whole thing really kicked off back in late May/early July, when footage of this otter -- also from the San Diego Zoo -- playing underwater with a little boy drew over 2 million views when it was picked up by a number of popular blogs and sites all over the world:
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Clever Girl: Animals Escape

YouTube is famously full of pets who are able to perform unique and often person-like stunts for our entertainment, but recently its been what some animals have been up to when we're not looking that've captured our attention.

The phenomenon has existed for a while with some animals -- search "cat open door" and you'll get over 5,000 results -- but it's certainly rare to see popular videos of three different species opening doors and gates amidst an escape.

The most popular we've tracked lately is this clip from last week week of one corgi helping another escape its cage. It's now been seen over 400,000 times.



Naturally, here's the obligatory cat video from BuzzFeed:



And finally, late last month, this clip from Ireland's RTE depicting a cow escaping his pen with his tongue picked up over 100,000 views:
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