World Animal Day: These Apps Let You Keep Virtual Animals

October 4th marks World Animal Day, and the special day was created to bring awareness to the shocking health standards for animals around the world. In the technological world, many have began to neglect our furry friends, and days like these are necessary so we continue to acknowledge them.

Many will be taking to social media today to share pictures of their pets, animals they’ve come across, and animals that need to be taken care of. The official World Animal Day organisation explains the origin of the day. They said, “The idea for World Animal Day was originated by Heinrich Zimmermann, a writer and publisher of the German magazine Mensch und Hund (Man and Dog). He organised the first World Animal Day celebration on 24 March 1925 and over 5,000 people attended the event!

“Since then, thousands of passionate animal advocates have taken part in a World Animal Day celebration. Today, there are over 90 Ambassadors who help to raise awareness in over 70 countries around the globe.

“In 2003, the UK-based animal welfare charity, Naturewatch Foundation, launched the World Animal Day website to help the event reach many more people. In 2007, they launched the Ambassador Programme to carry the message far and wide.” The rest was history, and now, in 2024, we cannot wait to see the events people host.

Who Celebrates World Animal Day?

Animal lovers around the world celebrate this day, and the organisation encourages people to host events that are centred around raising awareness for the treatment of animals.

Everyone can make a difference when it comes to speaking out against the cruelties some individuals and companies put animals through. The audience grows each year and this year is an opportunity to join in.

What Is Needed For A Good Event?

Those who are looking to host an event for the sake of awareness have a few things to submit:

-Event title
-The time and date of the event
-Where the event will be
-An explanation of the event type
-Social media pages

Submissions can be made direction on the website. The organisation has also made toolkits as a way to assist those who are new at this and need some guidance.

Apps That Let You Take Care Of Virtual Animals

For those who want to actually own an animal but cannot do so for a real one, technology has created ways to change this. The following applications were made to bring users virtual pets and animals, and users can take care of them using just their smartphones. These 5 stood out:

Pengu

Pengu, is a social app where users adopt AI-enabled 3D virtual penguins, or “Pengus”.

Pengu is different from other social apps because it uses AI and LLMs to give each Pengu long-term memory and context. This allows them to develop their own identity, character, and thoughts. An ever-evolving Pengu keeps users coming back to spend more time with it.

Since launching at the end of 2023, Pengu has become a hit, with 5 million registered users worldwide and is currently #12 in the Social Networking charts on the App store. It’s also the biggest virtual character app with its own IP in the US.
 

Virtual Reality Animals!

This companion app lets users explore virtual reality with VR animals, with over 40 different experiences, users can get close with different animals from birds to reptiles.

The full kit has a 96 page guide on animals, with fun facts. The full kit would also include the VR goggles and a scratch art kit.

My Virtual Pet

With this virtual pet app, you can own a pet and take care of it the way you would a real pet- from feeding the pet to training and cleaning up after it. Users can choose between a dog, cat, hamster or llama and on top of the aspect of raising the pet, users can play mini games.

Some of these are “odd one out”, where users are to spot an object that is different, or the “how many” mini game, where one have to count objects as fast as possible, and in as little time as possible. This game is especially good for kids who need to sharpen their skills and knowledge, as well as their creativity.

My Virtual Pet Shop: Animals

This app allows users to build their own pet stores, and as the “shop owner”, users are expected to take care of the animals in the store by feeding, grooming, and washing up pets. This app works on a coin system, where coins are earned as a reward.

Users can work on the shop and grow the business as they wish, and all ages can try this out. This is considered a simulator game, and there are 4 activities: grooming, bathing, dressing and doctor.

Talking Tom

The very popularly known game- Talking Tom is a cat who users can adopt, and take care of. The twist here is that the cat really can speak, and similar to another virtual pet app, users can play mini games for an added adventure.

The goal here is to make sure Talking Tom is happy, and there are features that allow users to travel and have a photo album for memories. This is a perfect app for those who want a more interactive experience with pets but can’t because pets do not speak.