Harambe

The meme was first expressed on May 28th, 2016. It demonstrated a remarkable evolution in only a few short weeks, mutating into an astonishing multitude of forms that few could have predicted; refracting, absorbing, and colonizing other memes until “Harambe” has merged with almost everything else the online world is obsessed with at this cultural moment. Harambe and climate change. Harambe and conspiracy theories. Harambe among the other fallen greats of our time. In the final months of the year the proliferation and dispersal of the meme slowed considerably, as other sensational events captured the internet’s fleeting attention, but experts predict that in the quieter backwaters of social media "Harambe" will likely go on replicating itself virtually forever.

Immediately after the shooting of the gorilla whose gave his name and life for the meme, zookeepers hurried to the body, made an incision in the scrotum, and extracted sperm that is now preserved in a “frozen zoo.”

There's a future, the zoo’s director declared in a press conference. It's not the end of his gene pool.