Every year has its breakout stars, and 2024 yielded a bumper crop: Glen Powell, Chappell Roan, Pommel Horse Guy.

But only one had a body that was routinely compared to a potato. She was slippery, she was feisty, she was named after a type of pork meatball. She was, of course, Moo Deng, the pygmy hippo who rocketed to fame so fast that at just 2 months old she inspired a character on “Saturday Night Live.”

She wasn’t the only nonhuman newsmaker this year. Indeed, 2024 was the year that animals seemed to do it all, becoming A-list celebrities, political weapons and cautionary tales. Along the way, they often served as welcome distractions from the messy human world — but also clear reflections of it.

Here is a look at the creatures that broke the internet (and sometimes our hearts) in 2024.

The social media sensations

It’s a tale as old as time: Baby zoo animal is born, baby zoo animal is posted online, baby zoo animal goes viral. This year, an enormous king penguin chick named Pesto — a 50-pound tower of downy brown fluff at the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium, in Australia — became a textbook case.