Maru the Box-Loving Cat, Once the Most Viewed Animal on YouTube, Dies at 18  

Maru nan cat, who erstwhile held nan Guinness World Record for nan astir views for an animal connected YouTube, has died. 

On his official YouTube channel, nan feline's family announced that Maru "went to heaven" connected Saturday, Sept. 6. They shared that nan 18-year-old Scottish Fold had precocious fallen sick and mislaid his appetite. After tests astatine an animal hospital, he was diagnosed pinch lung adenocarcinoma, a shape of cancer, and his wellness declined quickly soon afterward.

In a follow-up YouTube post, Maru's proprietor said straight to nan feline, sharing, "I'm lonely, truthful beryllium judge to beryllium calved again soon!" and added, "He is by quality a laid-back cat, and I wonderment if he is relaxing successful nan entity now. But he loves to astonishment us, truthful I'll hold patiently, hoping for a astonishment from him."

According to Guinness World Records, Maru, which intends "round" successful Japanese, captured hearts astir nan world by squeezing himself into impossibly mini spaces, particularly mini boxes.

Guinness World Records certified nan pet was nan astir viewed animal connected YouTube successful 2016, erstwhile nan feline had complete 325 cardinal views. Maru's YouTube transmission now has complete 577 cardinal views. In 2018, Maymo nan Lemon Beagle dethroned Maru and became nan caller grounds holder, acknowledgment to his complete 695 cardinal views.

Though his grounds was overtaken, Maru maintained a devoted pursuing connected his channel, Mugumogu — pinch astir 900,000 subscribers — wherever funny minds will find clips of Maru napping, wearing costumes, and routinely diving into cardboard boxes. 

Guinness World Record adjudicator Kaoru Ishikawa said Maru's proprietor was initially "surprised and scared" by nan attention, but quickly recovered alleviation successful nan overwhelming positivity of fans.

"Maru's proprietor attributes this occurrence to Maru's expertise to fresh into mini cardboard boxes and his emotion for his surviving room swing," they added. "Plus, he's very cute."

News of Maru's decease prompted an outpouring of condolences and support connected nan cat's societal media. One instrumentality wrote, "18 years old... 88 years aged successful quality terms. He lived a agelong life and died peacefully astatine nan end. He must person had a very happy life arsenic a cat." Another added, "I knew this clip would travel soon, fixed his age. But I still didn't want it to happen."

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For many, Maru will stay a beloved gateway into nan world of adorable, viral feline videos.

As 1 commenter put it, he was nan "first feline from nan online world that I ever knew."