The Brief: A photo that appears to depict a baby platypus has gone viral online, inspiring memes and debate about whether or not that's really what a baby platypus looks like.

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DEEP DIVE

Baby Platypus memes are based on a photo of a sculpture of a “baby platypus.” This baby meme joins Baby Yoda and Baby Nut as a viral and fictional “baby.” Online, there’s debate about the platypus’ authenticity, cuteness, and politics. We just hope he doesn’t milkshake duck

Is That Really A Baby Platypus?

The image at the center of this meme is not, in fact, an actual photo of a baby platypus but a sculpture crafted out of stone by fantasy artist Vladimir Matić-Kuriljov.

Luckily, actual baby platypuses are very cute.

This is not the first time a faux baby platypus photo has gone viral. A Snopes article debunked rumors that a photo of a platypus doll from 2016 was real.

Memes

Baby platypus memes include comparisons to Perry the Platypus from Phineas and Ferb and depictions of this “baby platypus” as a climate activist.

A particularly popular quote tweet of Baby Platypus with the caption “I think he looks nice” gathered 1 million likes before it was deleted in a no free clout dispute.