January has lasted approximately 47 weeks, and the internet is coping the only way it knows how. Memes. After days of forensic-level analysis of the Victoria Beckham family drama, our feeds needed a new distraction. Enter the penguin.
An old Werner Herzog documentary clip has resurfaced on the internet showing a lone AdĂ©lie penguin calmly abandoning its colony and waddling towards certain death in the icy mountains. Herzogâs voice is famously unsentimental. There will be no rescue. Instagram, however, asked a better question: What if we made this relatable.
Set to everything from a church-organ remix of Gigi DâAgostinoâs âLâAmour Toujoursâ to âChanna Mereyaâ, the penguin has become Januaryâs unofficial mascot. Even Wendyâs has jumped in, cheekily captioning the clip with âwhen you choose to eat that clownâs burgersâ, because brand beef never takes a holiday. âBe that penguin,â users have been declaring, posting videos of themselves trudging through snow, bad days, and January itself.
Last year, we obsessed over an anglerfish swimming toward the surface. This year, we are projecting our existential dread onto a bird with a death wish. Different animal, same mood. Welcome to 2026.
