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Featured era: 2005
Me at the zoo
“The cool thing about these guys is that they have really, really long trunks.”
- Featured era
- 2005
- Peak era
- 2005
- Company
- Jawed Karim
- Category
- Viral Videos
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On Video
"Me at the zoo", the first video uploaded to YouTube
Plays from YouTube when you press play. Views, length and date from YouTube, October 2026.
About This Video
- From:
- jawed
- Added:
- April 23, 2005
- Length:
- 0:19
What Was It?
"Me at the zoo" is the first video ever uploaded to YouTube. It lasts nineteen seconds and shows YouTube co-founder Jawed Karim standing in front of two elephants at the San Diego Zoo, remarking on their long trunks, filmed by his high school friend Yakov Lapitsky.
It was uploaded on April 23, 2005, when YouTube was a tiny experiment. Nothing about it is dramatic, which is exactly why it is loved: it captures the moment before online video became an industry, when the whole idea was simply to film something and share it.
The video is still online and has been watched hundreds of millions of times, and its comment section has become a kind of guestbook for the history of the platform.
Things You Probably Forgot
- That YouTube's first video was only nineteen seconds long
- The elephants and their "really, really long trunks"
- A time when YouTube had no adverts, recommendations or channels
- Comments left on it years later as a pilgrimage
The Story
- 2005 Jawed Karim uploaded "Me at the zoo" on April 23, the first video on YouTube.
- 2006 Google bought YouTube.
- 2026 The video had passed 433 million views.
Its Legacy
The video is still on YouTube. It lives on as the starting point of online video as most people know it, and as a reminder of how small and ordinary the beginning was.
Memories
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