Badger Badger Badger, officially titled Badgers, is a looping Flash animation by British animator Jonti “Weebl” Picking, released in September 2003. Twelve cartoon badgers do calisthenics while a voice chants “badger”, a mushroom appears, and a snake crosses the desert. It became one of the defining memes of the Flash-era internet.
Origin
Wikipedia describes the cartoon as twelve animated European badgers doing calisthenics, a mushroom in front of a tree, and a snake in the desert, with a voiceover that sings the names of what is on screen. In its original Flash form it loops indefinitely.
Sources give two first appearances a day apart:
- September 1, 2003: Newgrounds user TheWeebl published the original video, per Know Your Meme.
- September 2, 2003, 3:59 a.m. BST: the cartoon went live on B3ta.com, per Wikipedia.
According to Wikipedia, Picking said the tune was inspired by Whigfield’s “Saturday Night”, which has a duck quacking throughout, so he decided his tune “needed an annoying squeak sound in the background”. The lyrics were meant to be a placeholder, but the placeholder became the actual thing.
How It Spread
- 2005: Weebl’s Stuff, Picking’s site of cartoons and animated games featuring the dancing badgers, was voted people’s choice website of the year by British Yahoo! users, taking 40% of the vote (The Guardian, January 21, 2005).
- 2006: A Bananaphone parody posted by ReelTreble92 on July 11, 2006 passed 4 million views, per Know Your Meme.
- 2008: Weebl uploaded the animation to YouTube on June 28, 2008, where Know Your Meme records more than 28 million views.
- 2009: PC World listed it as one of the top five internet fads of all time, per Wikipedia.
The cartoon also brought Picking to the attention of MTV Europe, for which he produced Weebl and Bob (Wikipedia).
Official Versions and Remakes
| Year | Version | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| 2003 | Badgers 2 | Zombie badgers on a black background, with a scratching sound added |
| 2004 | Christmas version | Made for the 2004 Weebl advent calendar; the snake is replaced by a nativity scene |
| 2004 | Euro 2004 edition | Badgers in England football shirts |
| 2007 | Big Ass Badgers; Baby Badgers | A Transformers spoof; a live-action version promoting badger toys |
| 2010 | Footy 2010 | World Cup version with vuvuzelas drowning out the audio |
| 2011 | Guess I Got My Badger Back | Dubstep version |
| 2013 | Save the Badger Badger Badger | Released May 19, 2013 with Brian May and Brian Blessed, against the proposed UK badger cull (Wikipedia) |
| 2023 | 20 Years of Badgers | Uploaded by Weebl’s Stuff on September 2, 2023 for the 20th anniversary |
Source for the table: Wikipedia unless noted.
Where to Watch It Now
- Official YouTube upload: “Badgers : animated music video : MrWeebl” on the Weebl’s Stuff channel.
- Original Newgrounds submission: newgrounds.com/portal/view/120321, the page Know Your Meme cites as the first post.
- Original Weebl’s Stuff page: an archived copy on the Wayback Machine.
Recent Developments
In May 2026, the video was preserved as part of the British Film Institute’s online video collection, according to Wikipedia. The BFI’s May 19, 2026 feature on online video illustrates the early-internet era with a still from Badgers (2003), noting that “formats such as Flash have become obsolete”.
Sources
- https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/badger-badger-badger
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Badgers_(animation)
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jonti_Picking
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Save_the_Badger_Badger_Badger
- https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2005/jan/21/uknews.onlinesupplement
- https://www.bfi.org.uk/features/all-about-online-video-third-age-moving-image