Mini Vietnamese Potbelly Pig Awarded Instagram World Record
- Mar 20
- 2 min read
This is one social media sensational swine.
Merlin the Pig, who boasts a staggering 1.1 million Instagram followers, recently earned a Guinness World Record for his social-media stardom. The 4-year-old Mini Vietnamese potbelly, who lives in Sacramento, California, has ben awarded the title for having the most followers on Instagram for a pig. Probably not a world record category that you were aware of but, all the same, that's a pretty impressive amount of followers. However, it's still a long way to go until Merlin catches up with Portuguese footballer Cristiano Ronaldo (@cristiano) who is the most-followed person on Instagram with over 672 million followers.
The popular pig is famous for starring in videos where he presses buttons that play voice recordings to express his feelings and desires. “Merlin has over 30 buttons in the house that he uses regularly, sparking conversation online about just how intelligent, emotional, and human-like pigs can be when given the time, patience and positive reinforcement,” GWR explained.
His Instagram account is managed by his mother, Mina Alali, who adopted him three years ago, and began training him when he was just 3 months old. After Merlin won the title, Alali shared her excitement in a celebratory post featuring her now famous animal alongside his official, smartly framed certificate.
“Thank you guys from the bottom of our human and piggy hearts - obviously couldn’t have done this without you and we are forever grateful for your consistent love and support,” she captioned the post which, of course, received tens of thousands of likes and comments. Alali added: “The comments saying our content helps with bad days, depression, anxiety, etc is what gets me up in the morning even when I myself am going through a rough patch. So thank you.”
