Meet the manul superfans (and why they matter for conservation)
What we can learn from the surprisingly serious world of the internet's grumpiest cats.
OK, stick with me — today’s feature digs deep into an extremely online subculture, but one I think is fascinating as a model for conservation in our weird new world.
Today's the final day of voting in the Manul World Cup, an online competition that I've followed much too closely for the past two weeks. For those of you who don't know, manuls are small, grumpy-looking wild cats native to the high plateaus of Asia. (We covered one getting arrested in China in the very first newsletter.)
Also known as Pallas's Cats, manuls have a hyper-invested online following, with individual manuls becoming well-known stars in zoos around the world, particularly in Japan. Japanese zoos that house particularly famous manuls have volunteer videographers who release new footage to massive Instagram accounts nearly every day. This is already the fourth edition of the Manul World Cup; past winners include Dunzi, a Chinese manul known for his serene expression, and Magellan, a Polish manul who garnered support from politicians and his country’s army.
This year’s Manul World Cup, hosted by X account @DailyMantle3, pitted 32 of the most famous manuls from zoos around the world against each other. Daily online votes have whittled the field down to the final two: Japan’s Bol (legendary for sitting on a stump and 2022’s winner) and Teru, one of five manul kittens born in Kobe Animal Kingdom last year.
Teru is actually Bol's granddaughter, and she passed away unexpectedly in January. (Manuls are particularly tricky to keep in zoo settings, as they're very susceptible to toxoplasmosis — a common bacterial infection in domestic cats that they have no immune defense against. Teru’s cause of death hasn’t been confirmed.) I actually had the chance to photograph her during my trip to Japan in November — here's my shot:
The final, however, has not been without controversy. Bol, one of the most well-known manuls, has an online following that playfully fashions themselves after QAnon. Dubbed BQL, they've propelled his advancement through each round with a flood of memes designed to influence the voting, complete with frequent pleas to "STAY IN LINE," "STOP THE STEAL" and for all "BQL patriots" to assemble.
But sentimental support for Teru has been strong. After her early lead grew during the 24-hour voting period, a bot army of X accounts deployed to push the vote back toward their "stump king." Voting had to be shut down and the poll relaunched, with the Daily Mantle currently set to private to discourage further botting. With a few hours left to vote at the time of this writing, Teru is back to a slim lead and likely on her way to become this year's Manul World Cup champion.
This isn't just some tiny corner of the Internet. Manul accounts have global reach:
More than 27,000 people follow the Daily Mantle on X
The Daily Manul, a less meme-driven version, has 47,000 followers
Manulization.com, which hosts genealogies and bios for every manul in every zoo worldwide, has a YouTube channel with over 350,000 subscribers
The Pallas Cat subreddit has nearly 50,000 members sharing daily updates
And yes, there's even an official song!
Here’s a few reasons I think it’s interesting:
It's an entirely organic, self-organizing movement. While Japanese zoos have helped power the movement by releasing footage, it's mostly driven by individual volunteers who make "manul pilgrimages" to meet cats in their local zoos. They contribute content back to the constellation of accounts that circulate, repost, and meme each day. The BQL movement is clearly tongue-in-cheek, but it demonstrates how modern online communities naturally adopt successful social media tactics to build engagement.
It could become a force for conservation. Late last year, Manulization used their YouTube and Telegram channels to raise money for the Manul Working Group, a non-profit team of scientists studying threats to manul populations across Asia. Their funding helped expand and maintain the camera trap network. Researchers told me this was more successful than traditional outreach campaigns because the Manulization community was already so tight-knit and trusted. While large cats raise the lion's share (pun entirely intended) of conservation funding, growing organic online movements like this might help fill the gap.
It's driving responsible ecotourism. I mentioned on Monday how rhino tourism worked successfully in Chitwan. Manul tourism is in its infancy, but responsible operators are starting to offer trips in conjunction with researchers to meet these elusive creatures. I'm headed to Mongolia in June with Cat Expeditions, a conservation photography company, and several Mongolian operators have started offering trips too, largely responding to Instagram interest. This growing attention—coupled with increased funding for research, in part generated by tour operators—could help local communities become invested in manul conservation.
This could be a model for other species, too. Manuls have natural advantages—they're cats (which the Internet already loves), just grumpier and fluffier. But similar community-building could work for other species, like sand cats (which also have their own song and face similar habitat loss challenges) or other zoo animals worldwide. Successful online communities excel at creating in-jokes and shared lore. Manul mania works because it's developed its own stars and villains, its faces and heels. With the right support and authentic community growth, we might see similar movements emerge around other lesser-known species that desperately need attention and protection.
Quick Links!
The Bronx Zoo's "Name-a-Roach" program is back for Valentine's Day, letting you immortalize your love (or perhaps an ex) by naming a Madagascar hissing cockroach in their honor for $15. Since launching in 2011, over 56,000 cockroaches have been christened through the program. If you're feeling romantic (or petty), orders need to be in by February 5th to arrive by Valentine's Day. The donations support the Wildlife Conservation Society's work protecting animals both at the zoo and globally — this is the same group that was behind the eDNA test we discussed in last Friday’s newsletter.
And speaking of the importance of camera traps — wild tapirs have been rediscovered in Rio de Janeiro state after a 100-year absence. Camera traps in Cunhambebe State Park captured 108 images of these native giants, including groups of up to three individuals and a mother with her cub - the first seen entirely independent of human reintroduction efforts. Last officially spotted in 1914, these 550-pound "ecosystem engineers" help maintain forest health through seed dispersal. The discovery in Rio's protected Atlantic Forest, which also documented the presence of pumas, suggests conservation efforts in the region are paying off. The tapir remains listed as vulnerable on the Red List of Threatened Species, making this natural return particularly significant for Brazilian conservation.
