Telegram Duck GIFs — Collage of multiple Telegram duck sticker variants showing different emotions and colors against a dark blue water background

Telegram Duck GIFs

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Published November 1, 2026

Telegram Duck GIFs, also known as Utya Duck Telegram Stickers, are a yellow duckling sticker pack designed by Serbian artist Egor Zhgun for Telegram in 2019. The pack's Smoking Duck frame caught fire on Twitter/X in March 2024 after reaction edits from @brandochii and @computer_gay. By late March, X and Instagram users were inventing elaborate duck lore in viral threads.

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Overview

The sticker set includes dozens of duckling frames with the character smoking, laughing, crying, or holding small objects1. Users send the GIFs inside Telegram chats as reactions or embed them in X and Instagram posts to stand in for a feeling a plain emoji can't carry8. The Smoking Duck in particular reads as a resigned, deadpan beat, which fit absurdist captions on X4.

Beyond single-frame use, posters started treating the ducks as a character with an ongoing storyline, stringing multiple frames into melodramatic backstories about breakups or late-night confessions7. This 'piecing together his lore' approach turned a sticker set into something closer to a webcomic cast.

Origin & Background

Platform
Telegram (sticker pack) / Twitter/X (viral spread)
Creator
Egor Zhgun
Date
2019

Serbian artist Egor Zhgun created the Utya Duck sticker pack and posted it to Telegram's Trending Stickers channel on September 4, 20191. The debut promo GIF, cycling through many of the duck characters, drew more than 65,100 views over the following five years1.

On April 16, 2020, Zhgun uploaded the full pack to Behance, where it collected over 25,000 views by 20242. The GIFs also appeared on Tenor that year, making them easy to use outside Telegram3.

How It Spread

Through the early 2020s, the Utya Duck sticker pack moved outside Telegram as users reposted individual frames to Tenor and other GIF archives3. The real breakout came on Twitter/X in March 2024, when the Smoking Duck frame surfaced in a run of viral reaction posts.

On March 18, 2024, @brandochii tweeted a Smoking Duck meme that drew over 820 likes within six days4. Five days later, @computer_gay posted an exploitable riffing on the Two Dumb Bitches Telling Each Other 'Exactlyyyyy' meme, pulling 169,000 likes in one day5.

On March 24, 2024, @ziarastar tweeted a laughing duck tied to the acronym IJBOL and drew 46,000 likes in four days6. The same day, @islandthembo posted four Utya Duck GIFs captioned 'I think I just pieced together this duck's lore omg,' hitting 87,000 likes within four days7. Usage spilled onto Instagram, including a late-March post from the account @fable8.

Timeline

2019-09-04

Egor Zhgun posts the Utya Duck sticker pack to Telegram's Trending Stickers channel.

2020-04-16

Zhgun uploads the full pack to Behance for public viewing.

2024-03-18

@brandochii tweets a Smoking Duck reaction meme, kicking off the viral spread on Twitter/X.

2024-03-23

@computer_gay posts an Utya Duck exploitable referencing the Two Dumb Bitches meme, reaching 169,000 likes in a day.

2024-03-24

@ziarastar tweets a laughing duck tied to IJBOL, and @islandthembo posts four frames 'piecing together this duck's lore'.

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How to Use This Meme

Senders typically drop the GIFs into Telegram chats as reactions or paste the Smoking Duck frame into X replies when a mood needs more than words5. Since March 2024, a common pattern strings several frames together to invent a storyline for the duck, often melodramatic7.

Frequently Asked Questions