To Celebrate Entering 2026, Here Are 91 Of The Best Animal Memes We Laughed At In The Past Year

Another year went by in a blink, along with another slew of crazy animal stories we have to leave behind. If in 2024 we had Moo Deng and Pesto the Penguin, 2025 had enough uplifting animal stories to fill a spreadsheet! Bored Panda invites you to go through the most interesting stories as 2025 comes to a close.

Brits have had many fascinating animals featured in the news this year, but these two donkeys were the darlings of the news cycle. Derrick and Bambou from the Lincolnshire sanctuary were both recognized by the 2026 Guinness Book of World Records: Derrick for his impressive height of 5 ft 5 in as the tallest donkey in the world, and Bambou as the owner of the longest donkey ears.

2025 also marked a new chapter in panda diplomacy between the U.S. and China. The National Zoo in Washington debuted two new pandas in January: male Bao Lin and female Qing Bao. The quirky giants quickly became the talk of the town, with specialized travel packets, tourism attractions, and live cams to attract visitors.

If you've ever tried to tell two pandas apart, you might've been unsuccessful. To the untrained eye, all adult pandas might seem like look-alikes. The panda keeper and expert at the Smithsonian National Zoo, Mariel Lally, says that distinguishing them is tricky.

However, with Bao Lin and Qing Bao specifically, there are a few differences that are quite noticeable:

1. Bao Lin, the male, is bigger in size.
2. Qing Bao has a birthmark on her left hip, a small dark patch of fur.
3. Their face shapes are a bit different, as Qing Bao has fluffier cheeks.
4. Their personalities are different as well: Bao Lin is more outgoing and playful, and Qing Bao is independent, preferring to sit at the top of a tree.

As the year was nearing its end, a bear decided to make the crawl space of a Los Angeles house his home. Through a security camera, an Altadena resident, Ken Johnson, noticed that a black bear was making occasional visits to his neighborhood. He didn't think anything of it for several weeks until the camera caught the bear crawling under the crawl space.

When the resident went to change the batteries for the camera, the bear even tried to intimidate him. "I went around to put batteries in the camera, and this huge growl comes from out from under the crawlspace and I just went running," the man told NBC Los Angeles. "I mean, it was the most amazing roar you've ever heard. Like a lion with a hiss on top of it."

The authorities told Johnson that as long as he stays inside, the bear shouldn't worry him. "I'm taking the lighter side of it, but it's also worrying me a little bit having something so big and ferocious living right there! It's kind of weird," he noted.

One wholesome story in April made almost everyone cry. After an outbreak of tornadoes in Mississippi in March, a family lost their pet turtle. The Emanuel family noticed the pet was missing after coming back. Luckily, it was their neighbor who found the turtle, Myrtle, and brought it to the local animal sanctuary.

The Central Mississippi Turtle Rescue reunited Myrtle with its owner, who told AP: "It feels good to kind of have some kind of happy [thing] out of so much [sadness] and grief and loss."

Another tear-jerking animal reunion story happened recently in Morro Bay, California. A baby otter somehow separated from its mother and was heard crying by locals on the shore, who then contacted the Marine Mammal Center.

The team rescued the pup and looked for its mother by boat, repeatedly playing a recorded vocalization from the pup to attract its mother. The baby, who was nicknamed Caterpillar, reunited with its mom after several hours of effort, with the mother floating away with her pup in an adorable embrace after some rigorous sniffing.

What was your favorite animal moment of 2025? Was it a meme, a news story, or perhaps some delightfully silly thing your own pet did? Share the cuteness with us in the comments! Also, be sure to check out these pets who chose violence and these adorable cats who went belly up and showed off their adorable tummies.