About

The Pūkeko, also known as the Australian Swamphen is a large-footed and large-beaked bird endemic to New Zealand and parts of Australasia. Images of baby pūkekos with their disproportionally large feet became the subject of memes on the internet in the early 2020s after several edited images of the bird made the rounds on Tumblr from 2021 onward. A notable edit of the baby pukeko shows it placed in front of a Windows XP Bliss wallpaper with the word "DAMN!!!" written across the top. The baby pūkeko's odd proportions made it a popular topic of memes, similar to other animals like capybaras or, more generally, dogs and cats.

Origin

The earliest known notable video featuring a baby pūkeko is an April 16th, 2008, YouTube^[4] video showing a New Zealand energy ad, which gathered over 46,000 views in 16 years.

The earliest known viral post showing a baby pūkeko chick was a December 4th, 2020, post on the subreddit /r/PicsOfUnusualBirds^[1] by Redditor /u/Intellobang, who gathered over 2,000 upvotes on a post captioned, "Going through an awkward phase – juvenile Pūkeko (Australasian/purple swamphen, Porphyrio melanotus)."

Sometime around March 2nd, 2021, Tumblr^[2] user Cybis reposted the image, gathering over 47,000 notes in three years.

The image was also reposted to Twitter^[3] / X by user @budypals with the caption, "StampStampStampStampStamp Hello," on September 21st, 2021, where it gathered over 35,000 likes in three years.

As per direct correspondence with KnowYourMeme, Instagram^[9] user @liliumbirder originally shared the "DAMN!!!" baby pūkeko meme to private Discord server on March 31st, 2023. The image shows a baby pūkeko set against a red forest fire with the word "DAMNATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" written across the top.

Spread

On March 10th, 2022, Tumblr^[5] user @onlinebeast posted an edited version of the aforementioned image, squishing the baby pūkeko's body and elongating its legs. The post was captioned, "Big stupid feet, and you’re not presentable. Not one bit," gathering over 16,000 notes in two years.

On July 8th, 2022, Tumblr^[6] user @neotrances made the earliest known post featuring the image of the pūkeko edited to read, "DAMN!!!!!" The bird was also placed in the Windows XP Bliss wallpaper. The post gathered over 9,000 notes in two years.

On September 14th, 2023, YouTuber^[7] Ploštice Kryštof posted a video showing a baby pūkeko with a muffled voice dubbed over it. The video, titled, "Goofy ahh Kiwi," gathered over 100,000 views in a year.

On November 12th, 2024, X^[8] user @notSIug tweeted, "ITS FRESH OUT THE EGGS!!!" alongside a video and a photo of some baby pūkeko birds. The post gathered over 130,000 likes in two days.

ITS FRESH OUT THE EGGS!!! pic.twitter.com/VChzaBrkyi

— professional chatterbox (@notSIug) November 13, 2024

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References