+
upworthy
Joy

Emmanuel the chaotic emu is officially the internet's favorite bird

His adorable antics are wholesomely addictive.

emmanuel dont do it, emmanuel emu, emmanuel emu tiktok

"Emmanuel, don't do it!" = new catchphrase of 2022.

If you haven’t met Emmanuel yet, you’re in for a treat.

Emmanuel is a resident of South Florida’s Knuckle Bump Farms, where farm worker Taylor Blake tries (desperately) to film informational videos about the animals on TikTok.

Unfortunately for Blake, Emmanuel ain’t havin it.

Her every attempt is thwarted by his relentless pecking antics, and the internet is in stitches over it. Below is a compilation of Emmanuel’s greatest hits, created by Tyla. Despite Blake’s demands, and even an experimentation in reverse psychology—“go ahead, do it,” she dares him—nothing can stop Emmanuel from knocking the phone to the ground.



"How did that make you feel?" Blake asks him, her voice full of sarcasm. "Was it everything you ever wanted and wished for and hoped for in life? Do you feel fulfilled now?" Judging by the look on his face, the answer seems like a resounding yes.

For a flightless bird, this troublemaking emu has quickly soared to virality with his mischief. If we don’t soon see T-shirts printed with the words “Emmanuel, don’t do it!” in big, bold letters, I’d be surprised. And a little disappointed, if I’m honest. It’s not every day that a farm bird earns tabloid coverage by TMZ. What a legend.

Unfortunately for Blake, Emmanuel has been a bad, bad influence on the other Knuckle Bump critters, who have joined him in anti-animal education protests.

@knucklebumpfarms Animals against education, episode 2. #animalsagainsteducation #emmanueltheemu #ellentheemu #princessthedeer #reginatherhea #farmlife ♬ original sound - Knuckle Bump Farms

Among his most loyal cohorts is Princess, a deer who refuses to stop biting, licking and altogether ruining the shot. Emmanuel has taught her well.

Luckily, Blake has discovered an unbeatable weapon of discipline known by parents far and wide: whipping out the full government name.

@knucklebumpfarms He knew I meant business when I whipped out his government name 😩🤣 #emmanueltheemu #emmanueldontdoit #emmanuel #emu #animalsagainsteducation ♬ original sound - Knuckle Bump Farms

All bets are off once “Emmanuel Todd Lopez!” is shouted, no doubt about it. Yes, that's his full name. Emmanuel Todd Lopez.

“He tightened up real quick when he heard the full name,” joked one viewer.

This trick seemed to work on Emmanuels of all species. "My name is Emmanuel and I fully froze," wrote one person.

In his defense, it’s not all pranks with Emmanuel. When not choosing violence, this emu is quite the cuddler.

@knucklebumpfarms Early morning emu snuggles #emmanueltheemu #emu #farmlife ♬ original sound - Knuckle Bump Farms

There he is, happy as can be after finally getting the attention he's been so aggressively fighting for.

​He’s also fond of hats.

@knucklebumpfarms Morning pep talks with Emmanuel #emu #emmanueltheemu #emusoftiktok #birdsoftiktok #farmlife #cowboy ♬ original sound - Knuckle Bump Farms

Nobody that’s completely evil could look this adorable in a hat.

Emmanuel might be aggravating his owners, but he is winning the hearts of millions.

Some were finding a bit of themselves while watching. "Emmanuel needs chaos and attention. I feel that to my core," one person commented.

Others found Blake and Emmanuel’s tumultuous-yet-loving dynamic to be inspirational.

“This is how chaotic I want my farm to be one day,” wrote one person.

Another added, “You give me such comic relief. I love your animals and their crazy personalities and your patience with them.”

One thing everyone can agree on: It’s Emmanuel’s world. We're just living in it.

You can follow along on all the wholesome Knuckle Bump Farm shenanigans via Instagram and TikTok. There you’ll find one big happy and haywire animal family ready to put a smile on your face.

Thank you Blake for your delightful content and unbeatable patience. And Emmanuel, thank you for being you.

Community

How to end hunger, according to the people who face it daily

Here’s what people facing food insecurity want you to know about solving the hunger problem in America

True

Even though America is the world’s wealthiest nation, about 1 in 6 of our neighbors turned to food banks and community programs in order to feed themselves and their families last year. Think about it: More than 9 million children faced hunger in 2021 (1 in 8 children).

In order to solve a problem, we must first understand it. Feeding America, the nation’s largest domestic hunger-relief organization, released its second annual Elevating Voices: Insights Report and turned to the experts—people experiencing hunger—to find out how this issue can be solved once and for all.

Here are the four most important things people facing hunger want you to know.

Keep ReadingShow less
Pets

Family brings home the wrong dog from daycare until their cats saved the day

A quick trip to the vet confirmed the cats' and family's suspicions.

Family accidentally brings wrong dog home but their cats knew

It's not a secret that nearly all golden retrievers are identical. Honestly, magic has to be involved for owners to know which one belongs to them when more than one golden retriever is around. Seriously, how do they all seem have the same face? It's like someone fell asleep on the copy machine when they were being created.

Outside of collars, harnesses and bandanas, immediately identifying the dog that belongs to you has to be a secret skill because at first glance, their personalities are also super similar. That's why it's not surprising when one family dropped off their sweet golden pooch at daycare and to be groomed, they didn't notice the daycare sent out the wrong dog.

See, not even their human parents can tell them apart because when the swapped dog got home, nothing seemed odd to the owners at first. She was freshly groomed so any small differences were quickly brushed off. But this accidental doppelgänger wasn't fooling her feline siblings.

Keep ReadingShow less
via Pexels

A teacher lists his class rules.

The world would be a much better place if humans weren’t so … human. We all fall short of perfection. Common sense is, sadly, not too common. And there’s one guy out there who always manages to screw things up when things start getting good.

Call it Murphy’s law. Call it the great “reason we can’t have nice things.” Call it entropy. It feels like a whole lot of pain could be avoided if we all had just a little bit more sense.

But what if there was one rule that we all agreed to follow to make everyone’s life better? What would this magical rule be?

A Reddit user who goes by the name P4insplatter came to this realization and asked the AskReddit subforum, “What simple rule would fix the world if everyone actually followed it?” They received dozens of simple rules that if everyone got behind would make the world drastically better.

Keep ReadingShow less
Sandra Maria/Youtube, Official Lives & Music Videos/Youtube

You can't not sing this song.

The music of Queen has a profound visceral effect on everyone. Few pieces of art can cause complete strangers to put aside their differences and come together in song, but by golly, “Bohemian Rhapsody” is one of them. It would be cheesy if it weren’t so absolutely beautiful.

This pertains even to non-English-speaking countries, it appears. Recently, thousands of Harry Styles concertgoers in Warsaw, Poland, began cheering as those iconic beginning piano notes penetrated the air.
Keep ReadingShow less

Movie critic Roger Ebert speaking his mind at the Sundance Film Festival.

It’s been ten years since the world lost Roger Ebert to cancer, and his voice is sorely missed. Ebert had a pure love of cinema, and even though he was a film critic in a sweater with a Pulitzer Prize, he wrote and spoke in a way accessible to every man.

He didn’t care if a film was a Hollywood blockbuster or art-house fare; what mattered was whether it deserved his highly-coveted “thumbs up.”

Ebert was an extremely gifted communicator whose interests went far beyond film. In his later years, he often mused about music, politics, and American cultural events with the same eloquence, thoughtfulness and wit.

Keep ReadingShow less
@over40slbmom/TikTok

Feeling nostalgic yet?

It seems like so many iterations of unfettered joy from our childhood haven’t made it to the modern age, and playgrounds are no exception.

Gone are the days of metal slides that scorched the derriere in the summertime, seesaws that doubled as human catapults and the notorious merry-go-rounds that separated the weak from the strong. Good old fashioned character building—safety be damned!

As it turns out, a few of these old relics are still standing. And footage of kids playing at one of these bygone parks is filling adults—particularly Gen Xers—with sweet nostalgia.
Keep ReadingShow less

A couple shares why they decided to leave the United States.

Although it is difficult to tell if there is a trend of Americans moving out of the country, rough estimates show that around 8 million currently live in other countries—double the 4.1 million living abroad in 1999.

The most popular countries for Americans to move to are Mexico, Canada and the United Kingdom, in that order.

A big reason why some are leaving the U.S. is that an increasing number of employers allow people to work abroad. Others are choosing to leave because of cost of living increases and “golden visa” programs. Golden visas offer the chance to get a foreign residency permit by purchasing a house or making a significant investment or donation.

Keep ReadingShow less