1. The penguin who outranks the man he was named after
In 1972, Norway’s King’s Guard visited Edinburgh for the Military Tattoo and adopted a king penguin at Edinburgh Zoo as its mascot. They named him Nils Olav, partly after Nils Egelien, the officer who arranged it.
Then the promotions started. Every time the Guard comes back to Edinburgh, the penguin goes up a rank. He became colonel-in-chief in 2005, was knighted in 2008 with the approval of King Harald V, made brigadier in 2016 and, in August 2023, promoted to major general, the third-highest rank in the Norwegian Army.
His full title is now Major General Sir Nils Olav III, Baron of the Bouvet Islands. Guinness World Records lists him as the world’s highest-ranking penguin. The title has passed through three penguins since 1972, which is one way to handle succession planning. He has outranked the man he was named after since 2005.
2. The cat who has outlasted six prime ministers
Larry, a tabby from Battersea Dogs & Cats Home, moved into 10 Downing Street on 15 February 2011. His official title is Chief Mouser to the Cabinet Office.
Since then David Cameron, Theresa May, Boris Johnson, Liz Truss, Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer have all moved out. Larry hasn’t. In July 2026 he welcomed his seventh prime minister, Andy Burnham.
His official job description includes greeting guests, inspecting security and testing antique furniture for napping quality. As for the mice, Downing Street says his solution is still at the “tactical planning stage”. In 2011 the problem got so bad that David Cameron reportedly threw a fork at one during a dinner.
None of this has hurt his popularity. An Ipsos poll before the 2024 election gave Larry a 44% favourability rating, higher than both Rishi Sunak (22%) and Keir Starmer (34%). Now 19, he had a cyst removed in October 2026 and was soon back on patrol.
3. The cat who saved a railway (and became a goddess)
By 2006, Japan’s Kishigawa Line was losing money and its stations had lost their staff. Kishi Station still had one resident: Tama, a stray calico cat. The railway’s president thought she looked like a maneki-neko, the lucky beckoning cat, and on 5 January 2007 he made her stationmaster.
Her salary was a year’s supply of cat food and a gold name tag. Her custom stationmaster’s hat took more than six months to make. Passenger numbers that January rose 17% on the year before, and one study estimated she brought 1.1 billion yen into the local economy.
Promotions followed. She became “super stationmaster” in 2008, with an office in a converted ticket booth (litter tray included), then a company executive in 2010. The station was rebuilt to look like a cat’s face. One year-end bonus was a slice of crab, hand-fed to her by the company president.
When Tama died in 2015, thousands of fans came to pay their respects and she was enshrined as a Shinto goddess. Kishi Station is still run by calico cats today. They now work shifts.
4. The bear who was enlisted to dodge a “no pets” rule
In 1942, Polish soldiers in Iran took in a bear cub, reportedly in exchange for some chocolate, a tin of beef and a penknife. They named him Wojtek. He grew up wrestling his comrades and, by most accounts, developed a taste for beer.
In 1944 the unit was due to sail for Italy, but the rules banned pets and mascots on board. So the Polish Army enlisted him. Wojtek became a private in the 22nd Artillery Supply Company, with his own service number.
At the Battle of Monte Cassino, soldiers said he copied them and carried 45 kg crates of artillery shells, and never dropped one. He was promoted to corporal, and the company changed its badge to a bear carrying a shell. After the war he retired to Edinburgh Zoo, where he lived until 1963. Yes, the same zoo as the penguin general. Edinburgh clearly has a type.
5. The mayor who never raised taxes (or won an election)
Talkeetna, an Alaskan town of about 900 people, doesn’t have a mayor. For 20 years it had a cat instead.
Stubbs, a kitten with barely any tail, was picked from a box of free kittens by the manager of Nagley’s General Store in 1997 and soon became the town’s honorary mayor. The popular story says locals voted him in as a write-in candidate. NPR later pointed out the flaw: no mayor, no election.
Nobody minded. Stubbs drew 30 to 40 tourists a day, and every afternoon he drank catnip-laced water from a wine glass at a local restaurant. His term survived a dog attack, a fall into a deep fryer (switched off, thankfully) and an unplanned trip out of town on a rubbish lorry. As the store manager liked to point out, he never once raised taxes. Stubbs died in 2017, aged 20.
6. The baboon who saluted officers and lit soldiers’ cigarettes
When Albert Marr joined the South African army in 1915, he refused to go without his pet chacma baboon, Jackie. To everyone’s surprise, his officers agreed.
Jackie became the regiment’s mascot and got the full kit: a uniform and cap, his own paybook and rations, which he ate with his own knife and fork. He learned to salute senior officers, stand at ease and light his comrades’ cigarettes. His sharp senses made him useful to sentries at night.
In 1918, under heavy shelling, Jackie was seen trying to build himself a small wall for cover. He was badly wounded and lost a leg, but survived. He was promoted to corporal, given a medal, and remains the only baboon to have held rank in the South African army.
7. The rat who won a gold medal for bravery
Magawa was an African giant pouched rat trained by the charity APOPO to sniff out explosives. At about 1.2 kg he was too light to set off a landmine, and he could search ground far faster than people can.
In five years in Cambodia he found more than 100 landmines and other explosives, and helped clear over 141,000 square metres of land, about 20 football pitches. In September 2020 the UK vet charity PDSA gave him its Gold Medal, making him the first rat honoured in the charity’s 77-year history. The medal was rat-sized.
He retired in 2021 to a life of bananas and peanuts, and died in January 2022, aged eight. In April 2026, Cambodia unveiled a seven-foot stone statue of him. Rats get a bad press. This one got a monument.
8. The dog who is mayor for life
Idyllwild, a mountain town in California, has never had a human mayor. In 2012 a local animal rescue charity ran a fundraising election for a pet mayor, at $1 a vote. Humans were not allowed to stand. A golden retriever called Max won.
Max I died in 2013 and Max II served until 2022. Maximus Mighty-Dog Mueller III took office on 10 December 2022, aged three months, and is officially mayor for life. His cabinet includes his sister, Vice Mayor Meadow, and deputy mayors who are also golden retrievers.
He tours town in his Mayor-Mobile and wears custom neckties. According to The Guardian, he ate three of them in a single month. His fame has even reached Britain, where a playwright turned his story into a stage play, Meet Mayor Max.
Animals with real jobs: who would you hire?
These animals with real jobs prove that experience is overrated and a good hat goes a long way. Which one would get your vote? Tell us in the comments. And if you liked this, you’ll enjoy our round-up of 5 signs that said way more than they meant to.