The Tanganyika Wildlife Park in Goddard, Kansas, is home to internet-famous pygmy hippo Mars, whose keeper, Sierra, often shares adorable videos of his antics. But Mars has some competition now. In early January 2026, the park welcomed a baby giraffe named Dwayne, and he quickly became a fan favorite.

The problem is, Dwayne seems to refuse to learn his own name. She’s been working for weeks to teach Dwayne his name without much success, but suddenly, Dwayne seems to have decided to answer to everyone else’s name except his own. Make sure your sound is on so you can hear Sierra call out all of the giraffes’ names. When they respond, they earn a treat. So maybe Dwayne is just responding to everything in hopes of getting a treat!

It seems that Dwayne just isn’t a fan of his name! We love it when animals get very human names, but Dwayne’s reaction (or lack thereof!) to his name makes it even funnier. Poor Sierra has her work cut out for her caring for Dwayne and Mars!

Related: Zookeeper Tries Teaching Baby Giraffe His Name, and We Can’t Stop Laughing

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Hilarious Reactions to Dwayne Ignoring His Name

Like us, people got a kick out of Dwayne completely ignoring Sierra when she called his name. @Dani Preciado joked, “Dwayne: Who? Not me! Jaqavius Joesph McGiraffinson the 3rd is my name!”

@CharisseSings_ shared, “He’s like ‘I hope she finds Dwayne someday…'” @bgp2037 added, “Who is this Dewayne person she keeps calling?!?!?! LOL!”

We laughed when @DecipticonTyrant said, “He was so excited y’all finally figured out his name is Isadora, only to be immediately called Dwayne again.” @Jamie Jo replied, “Further proof Dwayne hates his name lol!”

@Mika Major joked, “On this episode of Who Is Dwayne…” @Big Mama Nuk added, “At first I thought maybe he’s deaf, but when she speaks, his ears move LOL! Looks like he just doesn’t want to respond to that awful name!”

“‘Your name is not Isadora!’. ‘My name isn’t Dewayne either,’ shared @A.Beautiful.Mind. @Becca made a good point when she said, “Dwayne wants to trade names with Isadora. Honestly, it’ll probably be easier to reteach her at this point.”

@Sunflower.Shondie had our favorite comment: “Dwayne is a mood.” He most certainly is, and it’s why we all love him!

This story was originally published by PetHelpful on Feb 17, 2026, where it first appeared in the Pet News section. Add PetHelpful as a Preferred Source by clicking here.