MJ's Monkey Bubbles is The Most Influential Animal Ever !
The 15 Most Influential Animals That Ever Lived
Time Newsfeed – By Oliva Waxman
Born in a Texas lab and adopted by Michael Jackson in the early 1980s, the moon-walking chimpanzee accompanied the King of Pop at parties, press events, and on tour. The chimp reportedly drank green tea with Japanese politicians, sparked rumors that he was the ringbearer at Elizabeth Taylor’s eighth wedding (not true) and fell victim to a celebrity death hoax more than a decade before Twitter made them cool.
Singer Michael Jackson enjoys a cup of tea with his pet Bubbles at Osaka City Mayoral Hall on September 18, 1987, in Osaka, Japan.
Jeff Koons memorialized the unlikely friendship via a 1988 ceramic sculpture of the duo in one of their signature matching outfits, which is now part of SFMOMA’s collection. In fact, since retiring to the Center for Great Apes near Miami, Florida, in 2005, Bubbles has become quite the artist himself; two of his abstract expressionist paintings, valued at $1,500 each, were put up for sale last year to raise money for the primate sanctuary.
Bucephalus
Without his trusted horse Bucephalus, Alexander the Great may have just been Alexander the Mediocre. Though his backstory has a bit of a mythical air to it, Bucephalus was indeed a real horse, and perhaps one of the world’s most famous. As legend has it, the hulking black horse was afraid of his own shadow, and, understanding this, Alexander always made sure to turn the creature’s head toward the sun. This special bond between man and beast meant that when it came time for battle, they were an unstoppable duo. Historians disagree about how he died — either battle wounds or old age — but when he did, Alexander founded a city in his honor and called it Bucephala.
Digit
Primate expert Dian Fossey sits with mountain gorillas in the Virunga mountains in Rwanda in 1982.
Although pioneering zoologist Dian Fossey worked with many gorillas during her career, she had a clear favorite: Digit. He gravitated toward her and the pair developed a close relationship. In 1977, he was found in the forest, decapitated by poachers. Digit’s death gained national attention after Walter Cronkite announced the brutal murder on CBS Evening News. Soon, a new surge of interest in the topic of gorilla poaching and conservation swept the U.S., and shortly thereafter, Fossey founded the Digit Fund (now called the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International) to protect the endangered animals.
Balto
AP
Gunnar Kaasen, shown with his dog Balto.
Balto is, essentially, the reason the Iditarod race exists today. In 1925, the Siberian husky led a team of canines on the famed “serum run,” transporting diphtheria antitoxin 674 miles across Alaska in time to save the city of Nome from an epidemic. Balto soon earned celebrity status, and less than a year after the trek, a statue of the pooch was erected in New York City’s Central Park. The modern Iditarod began in 1973 to commemorate Balto’s journey, and in 1995, an animated movie called Balto was released. Fun fact: in the film, Balto is voiced by Kevin Bacon
Elsa
Austrian-born Kenyan conservationist and author Joy Adamson kneels and scratches the face of the lioness Elsa, whom she raised.
The lioness was the subject of a 1960 international bestseller Born Free, which chronicled how author Joy Adamson raised an orphan cub in Kenya with her husband George, a game warden, and released it back into the wild. Columbia Pictures adapted the story into an Academy Award-winning 1966 film starring Bill Travers and Virginia McKenna, who subsequently started the Born Free Foundation, a wildlife conservation group. Animal rights activists believe Elsa’s story debunks the notion that all wild animals are ruthless killers that should be kept in captivity.
Knut
His mother may have abandoned him after birth in 2006, but Germans welcomed him with open arms during his four years of life at the Berlin Zoo. Knut’s celebrity accounted for record attendance and revenues, reportedly generating an estimated $140 million in global business, mostly between 2007 and 2009 when he was a cuddly-looking cub, according to Bloomberg Businessweek. Even renowned photographer Annie Leibovitz photographed him for a 2007 Vanity Fair cover. Knut died suddenly in 2011 when he collapsed from a brain swelling and drowned in his enclosure. The Berlin Zoo erected a bronze statue in his likeness so fans could pay their respects.
Laika
On Nov. 3, 1957, the Soviets launched the Sputnik 2 satellite with a female terrier on board, the first living creature to be sent to space and orbit Earth. Though her contraption was stocked with more than a week’s worth of water and gelatin food, the extreme temperatures killed her after a day or two. Her mission helped scientists learn more about space’s biological effects on animals.
