Serge the llama (born 29 June 2005, Saint-Nazaire) is a

llama The llama (; ) (''Lama glama'') is a domesticated South American camelid, widely used as a meat and pack animal by Andean cultures since the Pre-Columbian era. Llamas are social animals and live with others as a herd. Their wool is so ...

in the circus Cirque Franco-Italien of John Beautour and

internet meme An Internet meme, commonly known simply as a meme ( ), is an idea, behavior, style, or image that is spread via the Internet, often through social media platforms. What is considered a meme may vary across different communities on the Internet ...

. Serge was named after the French singer Serge Lama, who described the choice of name as "genius". During the night of 30 to 31 October 2013, while the circus was performing in

Bordeaux Bordeaux ( , ; Gascon oc, Bordèu ; eu, Bordele; it, Bordò; es, Burdeos) is a port city on the river Garonne in the Gironde department, Southwestern France. It is the capital of the Nouvelle-Aquitaine region, as well as the prefecture ...

, the llama was taken from its cage by a group of five youths returning from a disco. They took the llama out for a walk, posted some pictures on social media, and took it on a

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ...

. The five were arrested by the police and Serge was returned to his owner, unharmed. Initially the circus director John Beautour pressed charges. However, the photos went viral on the internet, leading to a lot of publicity for the circus. Beautour subsequently dropped the charges. The llama was bookable for parties at 1,200

Euro The euro (symbol: €; code: EUR) is the official currency of 19 out of the member states of the European Union (EU). This group of states is known as the eurozone or, officially, the euro area, and includes about 340 million citizens . ...

s per event, and appeared as a

mascot A mascot is any human, animal, or object thought to bring luck, or anything used to represent a group with a common public identity, such as a school, professional sports team, society, military unit, or brand name. Mascots are also used as fic ...

at soccer games. A parody of the Stromae song Papaoutai called "Lamaoutai" was viewed more than 4 million times on YouTube. The parody was made with the cooperation of the circus.

References

{{reflist Internet memes Animals on the Internet Individual camelids 2005 animal births Llamas