Maru (born May 24, 2007) is a male
Scottish Straight cat in
Japan who has become popular on
YouTube. Videos featuring Maru have been viewed over 479 million times, and at one point held the
Guinness World Record for the most YouTube video views of an individual animal. Maru has been described as the "most famous cat on the internet".
History
Maru's videos are under the account name of mugumogu. His owner is rarely seen in the videos. The videos include title cards in English and Japanese setting up and describing the events, and often show Maru playing in cardboard boxes, indicated by "I love a box!" in his first video.
Videos of Maru are collections of clips—usually around 3–7 minutes long—of Maru engaging in various activities, with most videos having a central theme or activity as indicated by the title card. Maru, during these videos, shows his fascination with boxes, his placid personality, his amusing antics, and an inventive intelligence and intuition.
In August 2013, Maru's owner adopted a kitten named Hana from a veterinarian. During the two-week trial period, Maru and Hana got along very well and Mugumogu decided to make Hana a new member of their family.
In November 2020, Maru's owner adopted another kitten named Miri from a neighbor who had rescued her from a storm drain.
Fame
''
Entertainment Weekly'' mentioned Maru alongside
Keyboard Cat and
Nora
Nora, NORA, or Norah may refer to:
* Nora (name), a feminine given name
People with the surname
* Arlind Nora (born 1980), Albanian footballer
* Pierre Nora (born 1931), French historian
Places Australia
* Norah Head, New South Wales, headlan ...
in its "Notable Kitty Videos" article. ''
The New York Times'' mentioned Maru in an article about cats and dogs in the media and included pictures of the cat. Maru's videos have been featured on the Fresh Step's commercial on the Fresh Step YouTube Channel. Maru has also been featured in advertisements within Japan, for various products. , Maru's channel is the 7th most subscribed in Japan.
In March 2017, Maru was certified as the most viewed animal on YouTube. His videos have been watched a total of 405,235,246 times as of 3 January 2019.
Published media
In September 2009, a book and DVD entitled ''I am Maru'' was released in Japan. A further DVD called ''Maru Desu'' followed in February the year after. A second book titled ''More Maru'' was released on August 31, 2011, but only in Japanese.
See also
*
List of individual cats
This is a list of famous cats which achieved some degree of popularity either in their own right or by association with someone famous.
Before the modern era
* Nedjem or Nojem ( Egyptian: ''nḏm'' "Sweet One" or "Sweetie"), 15th century BC. The ...
*
Grumpy Cat
Tardar Sauce (April 4, 2012 – May 14, 2019), nicknamed Grumpy Cat, was an American Internet celebrity cat. She was known for her permanently "grumpy" facial appearance, which was caused by an underbite and feline dwarfism. She came to promin ...
*
Lil Bub
Lil Bub, officially Lil BUB (June 21, 2011 – December 1, 2019), was an American celebrity cat known for her unique physical appearance. Her photos were first posted to Tumblr in November 2011, before being taken off after being featured on the ...
*
Nora (cat)
Nora The Piano Cat (born September 10, 2004) is a gray tabby cat, rescued from the streets of Camden, New Jersey, by the Furrever Friends animal shelter. Nora gained international prominence after a YouTube video of her playing the piano went vira ...
*
Keyboard Cat
References
External links
Maru's blog
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maru
2007 animal births
Animals on the Internet
Individual cats in Japan
Internet memes about cats
Japanese Internet celebrities
Scottish Fold