Maru (cat)

Maru is a male Scottish Straight cat in Japan who has become popular on YouTube. Videos featuring Maru have been viewed over 444 million times, and at one point held the Guinness World Record for the most YouTube video views of an individual animal.[1][2] Maru has been described as the "most famous cat on the internet".[3]

Maru
Maru the Cat in his book from 2011
Other name(s)Round
SpeciesFelis catus
BreedScottish straight
SexMale
Born (2007-05-24) May 24, 2007
Japan
Years active2008–present
Known forInternet celebrity cat

History

Maru's videos are under the account name of mugumogu. His owner is rarely seen in the videos. The videos include title cards in English and Japanese setting up and describing the events, and often show Maru playing in cardboard boxes, indicated by "I love a box!" in his first video.

Videos of Maru are collections of clips — usually around 3 - 7 minutes in length — of Maru engaging in various activities, with most videos having a central theme or activity as indicated by the title card. Maru, during these videos, shows his fascination with boxes, his placid personality, his amusing antics, and an inventive intelligence and intuition.

In August 2013, Maru's owner adopted a kitten named Hana from a veterinarian. During the two-week trial period, Maru and Hana got along very well and Mugumogu decided to make Hana a new member of their family.[4]

In November 2020, Maru's owner adopted another kitten named Miri from a neighbor who had rescued her from a storm drain.[5]

Fame

Entertainment Weekly mentioned Maru alongside Keyboard Cat and Nora in its "Notable Kitty Videos" article.[6][7] The New York Times mentioned Maru in an article about cats and dogs in the media and included pictures of the cat.[8] Maru's videos have been featured on the Fresh Step's commercial on the Fresh Step YouTube Channel.[9] Maru has also been featured in advertisements within Japan, for various products.[10] As of December 2011, Maru's channel is the 7th most subscribed in Japan.

After the March 2011 earthquakes in Japan, Mugumogu reported from Maru's blog that Maru was safe and unharmed, though a carrying case was prepared in the event of an evacuation.[11]

In March 2017, Maru was certified as the most viewed animal on YouTube.[12] His videos have been watched a total of 405,235,246 times as of 3 January 2019.

Published media

In the September of 2009, a book and DVD entitled I am Maru was released in Japan in September 2009.[13][14][15] A further DVD called Maru Desu followed in February the year after.[16] A second book titled More Maru was released on August 31, 2011, but only in Japanese.[17]

See also

References
  1. mugumogu (10 July 2008). "mugumogu's Channel". YouTube. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
  2. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DCofdZITUEY
  3. "In Search of the Living, Purring, Singing Heart of the Online Cat-Industrial Complex | WIRED". Retrieved 2015-07-05.
  4. mugumogu (2013-08-06). "まるです". Sisinmaru.blog17.fc2.com. Retrieved 2014-03-11.
  5. Miri, newest edition to the family.
  6. "Notable Kitty Videos". Entertainment Weekly. 7 August 2009. p. 39.
  7. Svetkey, Benjamin (30 July 2009). "Cat videos! Cat videos! Cat videos! Help us grade the cat videos!". EW.com. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
  8. Genzlinger, Neil (23 July 2010). "On Films and TV, Cats and Dogs Playing Cute". NYTimes.com.
  9. freshstep. "freshstep's Channel". YouTube. Retrieved 27 December 2010.
  10. "Photo of Maru WiMAX ad". Flickr.
  11. Maru. "Maru blog post". Maru. Retrieved 11 March 2011.
  12. Guinness World Records (2017-03-24), Maru - The cat from Japan that holds the record for most watched animal on YouTube, retrieved 2017-03-26
  13. mugumogu. I am Maru. ASIN 4048951289.
  14. mugumogu. "I am Maru 2". Tokimeki Publishing. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
  15. mugumogu (2009). I am Maru (Maru Desu) (in Japanese). Tokimeki Publishing. ISBN 978-4-04-895128-9.
  16. mugumogu (2010). "I am Maru". Columbia Music Entertainment, Inc. Retrieved 23 July 2010.
  17. "Amazon.co.jp： もっと、まるです。: ｍｕｇｕｍｏｇｕ: 本". Amazon.co.jp. Retrieved 2012-01-26.
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