Exploring Milk Ape Lore: The Next Evolution In Meme Lore

Dogelore is perhaps one of the most successful meme revival efforts of all time. Through their dedicated efforts, memers were able to take a dead, one-note meme like Doge and expand it into an entire universe. They established history around Doge, including characters for him to interact with, a plethora of new jokes and character traits to utilize, and a comic-like format rather than a single-image one. Dogelore took off and is now a staple of the memeverse from Reddit to Instagram and beyond. People care so deeply for it that there was massive controversy when Doge 2 was introduced to the canon earlier in 2020.

Now, memers have started a new type of lore based around one of the most unexpected meme characters, Milk Ape. As seen with Dogelore, these memers are expanding the world around Milk Ape to create a whole new meme universe, and it’s a truly fascinating one.

Why Milk Ape?

Milk Ape is an image of a melancholy looking chocolate gorilla being melted in a pot of milk. The original caption is a real tearjerker, reading, “Pot of milk long way from jungle.” The meme evolved from that point, soon becoming an alternative to the Harambe Listen, Kid, I Don't Have Much Time format thanks to Milk Ape being, well, a quickly melting ape.

Milk Ape popped up in 2017 but is seeing an increase in popularity now. This current rise of Milk Ape and his lore likely has something to do with the meme economy’s currently high valuation of apes. Memes like Return to Monke and Apes Together Strong have been quietly ruling the dank meme scene for weeks now, and Milk Ape naturally fits right into this niche alongside newcomers, such as Monki Flip. Considering this, more people than ever are stumbling upon niche Milk Ape lore via Reddit boards like /r/ape, where it’s frequently referenced in conversations. It also helps that the Jungle Thick wiki is the first Google Search result when you search “Milk Ape.”

Exploring Jungle Thick

Milk Ape lore is primarily collected on jungle-thick.fandom.com, where there are nearly 40 pages of content so far. There are six primary contributors to this webpage, which was started in 2019. It’s been quietly existing under our noses for over a year, primarily feeding the hungry followers of /r/ape until recently. The site sees a good level of interaction, with plenty of comments and content to go around.

According to the site’s lore, Milk Ape resides in the land of "Jungle Thick," a massive jungle setting that used to be a desert known as “Western Wild.” Somewhere in the evolution between desert and jungle, the residents began to look like chocolate. Milk Ape came to power between 1895 and 1900. He grew from a seed, the roots of which expanded throughout the jungle, allowing Milk Ape’s milk to travel freely through the soil, strengthening the trees. Milk Ape often struggles for power of the Jungle Thick with Chocolate Monkey, a villain who looks to exploit Jungle Thick and its residents.

There are plenty of established characters in this universe. Some of the highlights include Small John Deere, a tiny monkey in John Deere overalls who often saves Milk Ape, an ex-Starbucks employee named "Baboon Jomes," and Seymour Skinner of The Simpsons. How all these characters come into play is only established by the wiki to a degree. You get a sense of the heroes, the villains and their struggles. Small Monkey John Deere, for example, is an extremely tiny monkey, but a heroic one nonetheless. He’s been traumatized by violence and war and is often forced to get his hands dirty to save Jungle Thick. To get the full scope of the lore, though, you need to go beyond and get explorative, like a cartographer in an unexplored jungle.

Beyond the wiki and subreddit, Twitter is another popular locale for Jungle Thick lore. Accounts like @BaboonJome, @SithChimp and @ApeMilk act as Jungle Thick storytellers and residents of the landscape. They offer exclusive insights into Jungle Thick, expanding the lore with every tweet.

In one particularly detailed post, @BaboonJome establishes the idea of a split timeline, which is supported in the wiki. In one timeline, Small Monkey John Deere manages to save Jungle Thick from ultimate destruction. In another, he fails, turning Jungle Thick into Jungle Thin. The Jungle Thin timeline is an industrial hellscape ruled by Milk Monkey, who wants to melt Milk Ape and sell his remains as sweet milk. In this offshoot, Milk Ape gets dissolved and eventually comes back as White Choggly, the ultimate Jungle Thick savior.

The lore is expansive, and just like Dogelore, it’s hard to tell what’s canon and what’s not because there isn't really such a thing as "canon." The beauty of meme lore is that you can add or detract from it however you want. It’s a universe created by memers everywhere, and consistency isn’t king. Jungle Thick can be expanded in any possible way, and the only way to truly experience it is to dive right in. The best place to start? The Jungle Thick wiki.

The Firsthand Story of Milk Ape

Failing to contact any of the wiki's creators, we contacted Milk Ape himself via Twitter to get a first-hand account of Jungle Thick. Milk Ape (@ApeMilk) has found good success on Twitter, with nearly 50,000 eager followers at the time of writing. He assured me that he wasn’t sure who created the wiki, but the information on it is deeply accurate. Then, he told me his story:

“Long time ago world dark empty. Only exist small seed size of pea. Seed sprout into leaf. On leaf sit little baby milk ape, first of kind. Dirt and earth and rock grow around seed, form EARTH and PLANET MANY. World grow, many animal and fruit and berry flourish, but ape all alone in new land call JUNGLE.

“Ape search for other like he, travel many land. Eventually find land know as KITCHEN. Find pot of milk sit on large oven. LADY APE INSIDE ❗️❗️❗️ Scream beat chest success roar, ape jump in pot with lady ape. More ape create arrive at KITCHEN, happy family life begin. One night, evil terrify flame burst in kitchen, all ape but one asleep not hear crackle of fire.

“Ape, grandchild of first milk ape wake up; see fire. No time for to wake others… Grab pot of milk that relax and sleep in and RUN AWAY. Weep many tears never stop run drag pot behind until escape to JUNGLE OF OLD. Build wall with jungle friend make sure fire never enter sacred home. Ape live in jungle ever since.”

Clearly, Milk Ape has gone through a lot in Jungle Thick. It’s an unpredictable, strange landscape run under meme-law that only becomes stranger as the lore expands. As an ape in Jungle Thick, you’re constantly living on the edge, waiting for the next adventure to take place. The more we understand it, the more we can sympathize with the struggles of Jungle Thick’s residents, and the more we can accurately report on its lore.

Milk Ape lore isn’t quite as expansive as Dogelore yet, but like Jungle Thick, it’s ever-growing. With the meme economy’s constant embracement of ape memes lately, the potential for the Jungle Thick universe and Milk Ape lore is endless.

Special thanks to @clobbahking for supplying the cover art.

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