BEIJING: A 10-day-old animal nicknamed the “drama queen lamb” has gone viral online for its hilarious ability to play dead, which has attracted so much attention that someone even offered 130,000 yuan (US$19,000) to buy it.
On Jan 13, the lamb from Zhongfang Village, Baofeng Town, Pingluo County, Shizuishan in Ningxia, northwestern China, went viral online for its unique ability.
According to the lamb’s owner, farmer Jin Xiaolin, he had taken four lambs to a local market to sell.
Three were sold at the market price of 420 yuan (US$60) each, but the fourth displayed unusual behaviour: it would immediately collapse and appear lifeless whenever someone tried to touch it.
Buyers assumed it was sick and refused to buy it.
However, as soon as people walked away, the lamb would quietly get back up and act completely normal. It only seemed friendly towards children.
“I decided to take it back home,” Jin told Ningxia Observation.
“It is incredibly humanlike. As soon as it sees someone coming, it lies down and pretends to be dead. People come every day just to see it; some even call to check on it.”
“It is so adorable, how could I bear to sell it?” he added.
Known as the “voice-controlled internet-famous pretend-to-be-dead sheep from Ningxia”, the animal quickly became a social media sensation after Jin’s relative posted a video online.
The clips, which show the lamb dramatically “playing dead” in various scenes, have attracted more than 10 million views across multiple platforms and attracted 32,000 followers on one.
Some fans even offered nearly 130,000 yuan to buy the lamb, but Jin refused.
He explained that he has no intention of selling the lamb; instead, he hopes to leverage its viral fame to promote local specialities like lamb meat, goji berries and eight-treasure tea.
Now, visitors from nearby villages are flocking to Jin’s home to catch a glimpse of the lamb, while netizens flood his inbox with requests to visit.
The lamb has sparked lively discussion among Chinese netizens, with opinions divided.
Many believed that selling it was necessary to save its life.
One person said: “It is better to sell it. Anyone willing to spend 130,000 yuan on a lamb is unlikely to mistreat it and must be financially well-off. If it stays with the current family, who knows what will happen once it grows up, stops playing dead and loses its cuteness.”
Another said: “If someone paid 130,000 yuan for it, it is probably not for eating. The little lamb might actually get to keep its life.”
However, a third said: “I would not want to sell it either. Even though I am poor, such a cute and intelligent lamb is worth far more than 130,000 yuan, even 230,000 would not convince me.”
“This lamb is a born actor, truly an Oscar-worthy ‘Lamb Emperor’,” another person said. - South China Morning Post
