Milk Ape Chocolate Gorilla Melting

2017image macroclassic

Milk Ape, also known as Chocolate Gorilla Melting, is a four-panel image macro built from a 2017 photo of a chocolate gorilla figurine dissolving in a pot of hot milk on a stovetop. The format took off on Reddit and Twitter in summer 2020, usually paired with a character trying to share a secret before he melts away.

exploitable templatesmulti panel memesprimate memesdelayed virality memesreaction memes

Overview

Milk Ape, also called Chocolate Gorilla Melting, is a four-panel image macro built around a small chocolate gorilla figurine slowly dissolving in a pot of hot milk on a stovetop1. The joke works by showing the ape trying to whisper something urgent to the viewer while his body shrinks away panel by panel, so the secret is never fully delivered4.

The base object in the photo is a real Japanese novelty confection called Zoology Chocolate Gorilla, sold by Sugoi Mart, where a buyer review notes hating to see "the relaxed ape fade away into the milk"1. Fans built an elaborate side-mythology around the character, treating him as the captive king of a fictional realm called Jungle Thick8.

How It Spread

The picture drifted quietly for over a year before Imgur user procrastinator9 reposted a reaction-image version on March 23rd, 2019 under the title "Can relate," which pulled more than 115,000 views and 3,100 upvotes4. Growth stayed slow until summer 2020, when Redditor Milk-Jug1737 posted a Milk Ape variant to r/dankmemes on June 12th, 2020 that hit roughly 55,500 upvotes in about a month5. On August 2nd, 2020, u/Dank_Memerman followed with another example on r/memes that pulled over 80,000 upvotes, 1,100 comments, and several Reddit awards6.

The format really broke out when the @ApeMiIk Twitter account, active since December 2018 and sitting at around 47,200 followers, posted a chocolate gorilla edit on August 17th, 2020 that gathered over 175,000 likes and 32,000 retweets in under 48 hours7. Around the same time, the Jungle Thick Milk Ape Wiki on Fandom, created in April 2019, filled out the lore that fans on r/ape and r/okbuddyretard kept referencing, casting Milk Ape as king of Jungle Thick alongside characters like Stink Monky, Baboon Jim, and John Deere Monkey Small8.

How to Use This Meme

The format typically stretches across four panels of the melting ape. Panel one opens with the ape leaning toward the camera to set up something urgent, often paired with a variant of "Listen, kid, I don't have much time"4. Each following panel shows him losing more of his body to the milk, and the punchline lands in panel four when only chocolate milk is left in the pot and the secret is never delivered.

Frequently Asked Questions

Milk Ape Chocolate Gorilla Melting

2017image macroclassic

Milk Ape, also known as Chocolate Gorilla Melting, is a four-panel image macro built from a 2017 photo of a chocolate gorilla figurine dissolving in a pot of hot milk on a stovetop. The format took off on Reddit and Twitter in summer 2020, usually paired with a character trying to share a secret before he melts away.

exploitable templates multi panel memes primate memes delayed virality memes reaction memes

Overview

Milk Ape, also called Chocolate Gorilla Melting, is a four-panel image macro built around a small chocolate gorilla figurine slowly dissolving in a pot of hot milk on a stovetop1. The joke works by showing the ape trying to whisper something urgent to the viewer while his body shrinks away panel by panel, so the secret is never fully delivered4.

The base object in the photo is a real Japanese novelty confection called Zoology Chocolate Gorilla, sold by Sugoi Mart, where a buyer review notes hating to see "the relaxed ape fade away into the milk"1. Fans built an elaborate side-mythology around the character, treating him as the captive king of a fictional realm called Jungle Thick8.

How It Spread

The picture drifted quietly for over a year before Imgur user procrastinator9 reposted a reaction-image version on March 23rd, 2019 under the title "Can relate," which pulled more than 115,000 views and 3,100 upvotes4. Growth stayed slow until summer 2020, when Redditor Milk-Jug1737 posted a Milk Ape variant to r/dankmemes on June 12th, 2020 that hit roughly 55,500 upvotes in about a month5. On August 2nd, 2020, u/Dank_Memerman followed with another example on r/memes that pulled over 80,000 upvotes, 1,100 comments, and several Reddit awards6.

The format really broke out when the @ApeMiIk Twitter account, active since December 2018 and sitting at around 47,200 followers, posted a chocolate gorilla edit on August 17th, 2020 that gathered over 175,000 likes and 32,000 retweets in under 48 hours7. Around the same time, the Jungle Thick Milk Ape Wiki on Fandom, created in April 2019, filled out the lore that fans on r/ape and r/okbuddyretard kept referencing, casting Milk Ape as king of Jungle Thick alongside characters like Stink Monky, Baboon Jim, and John Deere Monkey Small8.

How to Use This Meme

The format typically stretches across four panels of the melting ape. Panel one opens with the ape leaning toward the camera to set up something urgent, often paired with a variant of "Listen, kid, I don't have much time"4. Each following panel shows him losing more of his body to the milk, and the punchline lands in panel four when only chocolate milk is left in the pot and the secret is never delivered.

Frequently Asked Questions