Cute creatures going viral is nothing new. Seven years ago, the Cincinnati Zoo wanted TIME to name Fiona the hippo Person—er, Animal?—of the Year. But 2024 seems to be on a different level of ...
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 ...