In recent months the phenomenon of “therians”. These are people who identify on a spiritual, psychological or symbolic level with a non-human animal. Unlike cosplay or role-playing, this urban tribe maintains that its internal identity is linked to that species, which can be expressed in communities in symbolic practices or forms of self-identification.
On the other hand, in Argentine politics, animal nicknames are part of a discursive tradition that mixes satire, marketing, militant identity and disqualification. Over the years, different leaders were associated with figures from the animal kingdom who, depending on the case, were born as opposition mockery, as symbols constructed by the political space itself or as ironic readings of physical traits and even leadership styles.
The coincidence between the emerging Therian counterculture and political traditions was the inspiration to create and disseminate a video made in AI, in which national leaders are characterized with their alleged animal identity. Javier Milei personified with the lion, Cristina Kirchner with the penguin, Mauricio Macri like a cat, Patricia Bullrich in duck form, among others, are the leading personalities of the reel made viral by Vico.
In the case of Mauricio Macri, The nickname “cat” began to circulate strongly during his presidency, especially in marches and social networks. Since Macrismo, in general, the nickname was coined as part of political folklore.
The case of Javier Milei, who voluntarily adopted the figure of the “lion” as a personal and party emblem. The metaphor arose in his first media appearances as a disruptive economist and was consolidated in the presidential campaign, when his followers began chanting “Lion, lion!” Milei himself repeatedly presented himself as a “lion” in front of what he calls “the breed,” reinforcing the image of a combative, solitary and dominant animal. The symbol was incorporated into the libertarian aesthetic and the epic narrative of its political rise, functioning as an identity construction.
In Kirchnerism, the best-known animal reference is that of the “penguin”, associated primarily with the former president. Nestor Kirchner due to its origin in the province of Santa Cruz, in Argentine Patagonia, an emblematic region for that species. Over time, the nickname spread to Cristina Fernández de Kirchnerboth due to political belonging and continuity of the project.
The nickname “duck” linked to Patricia Bullrich It has a less symbolically consolidated origin. It is hardly the ironic distortion of her name—Patricia/Pato—. As to Horacio Rodríguez Larretathe nickname “lizard” was installed above all on social networks and humorous programs, where physical features are exaggerated to construct political satire. The nickname was used by critics and digital users as a form of mockery, in a logic that combines meme, network culture and partisan confrontation.
The use of animals to represent leaders is historical, Julio Roca nicknamed him “the fox”, but it is not exclusive to Argentina and responds to a long global symbolic tradition: animals condense attributes – strength, cunning, coldness, clumsiness – and allow complex narratives to be simplified into easily recognizable images. In the current context, social networks amplify these resources and turn them into viral memes that can consolidate identities or reinforce stigmatizations.
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