Although the groundswell support of Donald Trump may indicate otherwise, sometimes impressive (and impressively hilarious) results happen when you open things up to a popular vote. The Natural Environment Research Council discovered this when it posed an online contest to name its $300 million new research vessel. The current frontrunner: “Boaty McBoatface.” NERC maintains that an “expert panel” will make the final decision, and in the meantime is having fun with the nautical moniker by tweeting hashtags #BoatyMcBoatface and #NameOurShip.
Full of the creative power inherent in its anonymous, plentiful masses, and inspired by the success of Boaty McBoatface, the internet has now turned from naming research vessels to the creatures in nature’s kingdom. IFLSCience! reports that the hashtag #TheInternetNamesAnimals is coming up with many creative and side-splitting nature aliases, like calling a snake a “Danger Noodle” and an alligator an “American Murder Log.” The U.S. Department Of Wildlife has even combined the effort with a public service announcement, tweeting under a picture of a ram: “M.C. Rammer says you can’t touch this. Seriously, please don’t touch wild animals.” You can rename your own creatures with the hashtag #TheInternetNamesAnimals, but good luck topping these: