Biology:Big Floppa

Short description: Internet meme with caracal Gregory

Floppa

Justin (left) with Floppa (right)
Other name(s)	Floppa, Big Floppa, Gregory, Gosha
Species	Caracal
Sex	Male
Born	(2017-12-21) 21 December 2017 Kyiv, Ukraine
Years active	2020—present
Known for	Internet meme
Owner	Andrey Bondarev Elena Bondareva

Big Floppa (Russian: Большой Шлёпа), or simply Floppa (Russian: Шлёпа), is an internet meme based around a caracal named Gregory (Russian: Григорий) also known by the nickname Gosha (Russian: Гоша). However, the name Gregory or the nickname Gosha, which is also frequently used, is less preferred as the meme community refers to the cat as "Floppa" or "Big Floppa."

Meme origin and personal life

On December 23, 2019, Instagram user prozhony posted a photograph of their pet caracal named Gosha (Гоша) lying next to their pet Maine Coon cat named Justin (Russian: Жора, Zhora). The image received over 16,600 views in six months (driven largely by its meme popularity). The name "Big Floppa" originated in reference to the caracal's recognizable large tufted ears.

Gosha was born in Kyiv, Ukraine on December 21, 2017. He was adopted by Andrey Bondarev and Elena Bondareva from Moscow in April 2018. Gosha shares a room with Justin, a Maine Coon cat also owned by Andrey and Elena who is four years older than Gosha. Gosha is very active around his apartment and likes to eat shrimp and mice.

Gosha underwent surgery to remove a tumor from behind his ear in 2020, but he later made a full recovery.

Gosha and his owners were featured on the state-owned Russian television station 360 in December 2021.

An unlicensed Big Floppa pillow, showing one of the many edited images of the caracal committing various crimes.

Many social media platforms and services stopped operating in Russia after the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine began, including Instagram, where Gosha's owners usually post. In response to this, they posted a message on their profile saying, "Dear friends, Instagram will be blocked in Russia today, but we remain with you!". They also announced the creation of a YouTube channel and a Telegram channel shortly following the announcement. Gosha's owners have called out for peace and spoken out against the conflict between Russia and Ukraine. Livestreams of Gosha are broadcast on the "Big Floppa Official" YouTube channel from various webcams around Andrey and Dino's house. Gosha's channel had 20.4k subscribers as of February 2023.

Expansion and variations of memes

A general internet subculture based on caracal memes has born from the Big Floppa following.

The term "Floppa/floppas" (lowercase when used generically) has become a phrase used within this community to describe caracals with a social media presence in general, notably a caracal named Pumba from Latvia. In 2022, Gosha and Pumba met virtually via Skype. More caracal cats associated to the meme are a caracal named Adolf, also from Russia, who lives with a Serval cat called Myxa, and caracal Kimbo, however Gosha is the source of the “Big Floppa” meme.

Big Floppa, as a distinct title, is now typically only used to refer to Gosha, and is often compared with the nicknames of rappers as it is very similar to many rappers' scene names, with "Big Floppa" itself possibly being a reference to the 1994 Notorious B.I.G song Big Poppa.

The meme notably depicts Gosha committing war crimes and terrorist acts, which his owners have subsequently humorously addressed.

Gregory (AKA Big Floppa) sitting on a kitchen counter with a watermelon

There is a flash mob in Russian Internet culture called "Мам, смотри, это Шлёпа, он тебе нравится?" (Mom, look, it's Floppa, do you like him?).

See also

• List of individual cats

External links

• Kittypuppy TV