People Are Searching the Term Art of the Zoo, and Are Shocked By What They Find
Published July 15 2021, 10:11 a.m. ET
In its time as a popular social media app, TikTok has seen its fair share of totally bizarre trends. There were trends as divergent as the ice cube challenge, step chicken, and even "we did it, Joe," that were all strange in one way or another. Now, a new phrase has taken over the platform, and it's one of the stranger challenges that TikTok has ever seen.
What does art of the zoo mean on TikTok?
The latest TikTok trend features users looking up the term "art of the zoo," and filming their reactions as they see what pops up. The reactions are a mixture of total shock and horror, which has naturally made those who watch the videos wonder what people see when they look up the term. For some, the temptation has proved overwhelming, but before look it up, you should make sure you know what you're getting into.
As it turns out, "art of the zoo" is another phrase for bestiality, and the results that you get when you search the term are mainly about people having sex with animals. Once you understand what it's referring to, the phrase makes more sense. The search results have actually been distorted somewhat by the popularity of the trend, which means that when you search the term now there's less explicit content at the top of your results.
The trend is popular in part because of how horrifying it is.
Although it may seem strange to want to horrify yourself or someone around you by introducing them to "art of the zoo," part of the appeal of the videos is knowing how exaggerated the responses will be. It's not often you get to see a genuine reaction to something truly shocking, and part of the appeal of the "art of the zoo" trend is the severe reactions in the videos.
Fortunately, if you don't want to see the descriptions and images related to "art of the zoo," you don't have to go looking for them. Instead, you can just read an article that explains what the deal is and move on.
Like all TikTok trends, taking part is totally optional.
'Art of the zoo' is likely to peter out quickly.
There are plenty of trends on TikTok that last for months and months, but "art of the zoo" isn't likely to be one of them. That's because as the trend becomes more popular, it will be harder to find people who don't know what it means. What's more, the trend has a limited lifespan because there aren't many ways to get creative with it. Once you've looked up and reacted to the term, there's nowhere else to go.
Those reactions may be hugely amusing, but they have a limited lifespan. It's possible that there will be another odd term that people latch onto because of its odd meaning. There may be similar trends in the future of TikTok, but "art of the zoo" may not be around that long.