From Chewbacca the dog to Ed Sheeran the cat: Why pet lookalikes go viral – BBC Bitesize

Why are animal stories so popular?

If you have a pet that you love, whether it’s a dog, a cat, a budgie or a tarantula, there’s a good chance you will enjoy seeing videos about similar animals online.

One of the most famous is Nala the cat in New York with more than 4m Instagram followers on the @nala_cat account. Nala has made more than £80m from advertising different products. That’s a lot of animal lovers being encouraged to buy stuff!

A 2025 study led by Professor Ghalia Shamayleh from Essec Business School in France found that sharing pictures of cute animals with people we care about, in order to make them smile, is an activity known as pebbling. It gets its name from a group of penguins that present pebbles to potential mates as a sign of affection. Prof Shamayleh told the The MediaScience Focus magazine: “Our research observes a similar behaviour in humans interacting on social media.”

She continued: “We share them with our loved ones as a token of affection, to reinforce our relationships.” Animal posts were seen by the researchers as a good example of ‘pebbles’.

Other research has found that videos that bring out strong emotions in us, such as joy, are twice as likely to be shared on our socials. If you love dogs and are a huge Star Wars fan, the sight of George Cowboy as Chewie could very likely make you joyful enough to share it.

Star Wars is a hugely popular series of films and TV spin-offs. Dogs are well-loved pets. That means they are relatable to lots of people and gives a sense of connection – again, this makes them very shareable. Also, if something is easy to share on our socials and has hashtags which are popular or trending, then it can quickly reach a majoraudience – helping George, and his other furry friends, get all those millions of likes.