A brief history of Elon Musk's pets, including a 'nasty, brutish' Yorkshire Terrier named after a 17th century philosopher, and a cat called Schrödinger
Theo Wargo/WireImage
- Elon Musk said he once owned a "nasty, brutish" dog for 15 years that bit people on the ankle.
- The father of nine has occasionally posted about his pets on social media, including dogs and a cat.
- Insider compiled a list of the billionaire's known pets, including one that inspired a crypto meme coin.
Billionaire Elon Musk may be the father of nine children and the boss of five major companies, but he still has time for a handful of four-legged friends.
The Twitter CEO has often publicly mentioned his pets on social media. Last year, for instance, he tweeted a video of his son X Æ A-12 or "X" playing with the family dogs in 2022.
—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) August 1, 2022
And this week, he talked for the first time about a Yorkshire Terrier he owned in the past.
Although not comprehensive, Insider compiled a list of known pets that have made it into Musk's family over the years.
Hobbes the Yorkshire Terrier
Musk first mentioned his Yorkshire Terrier in a Twitter post on Sunday saying he was well-known for biting people's legs.
He wrote: "Had an awesome Yorkie for 15 years who I named Hobbes, because he was nasty, brutish & short," he wrote. The dog's name appears to be a play on 17th century philosopher Thomas Hobbes' famous work "Leviathan," in which he described human existence as "solitary, poor, nasty, brutish, and short."
"I'd tell people 'watch out for the dog!', then they'd see him & laugh, then he would bite them on the ankle," Musk wrote.
—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) March 19, 2023
Floki the Shiba Inu
Floki is Musk's most famed pet and is a Shiba Inu — a type of hunting dog from Japan. He was first mentioned in a tweet by Musk in 2021 when the billionaire announced his name.
The first picture of Floki made it to Musk's Twitter in September 2021 captioned: "Floki has arrived."
Shiba Inu is also a decentralized cryptocurrency founded in 2020 and is a fork of the popular Dogecoin, which itself is named after a popular meme of a Shiba Inu. The "Floki Inu" is also meme coin that takes its name from Musk's pup.
Dogecoin saw a $10 billion surge in market value when Elon Musk posted a picture of Floki joking that he's the "new CEO of Twitter" and is "perfect for the job."
—Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 15, 2023
Gatsby, Marvin the Martian, and Schrödinger
Musk has tweeted about a string of other pets he owns on Twitter, including two dogs and a cat.
In 2018, he tweeted: "We have a big dog called Gatsby, a little dog called Marvin the Martian & a cat named Schrödinger." The name Schrödinger refers to the infamous thought experiment created by Erwin Schrödinger in the 1930s.
Gatsby and Marvin have even visited the famous dog whisperer Cesar Milan, who posted a picture of them on his Instagram in 2018.
Marvin made an appearance on Musk's Twitter again when the billionaire bought him a hand-knitted "Marvin the Martian" helmet in 2021.
When users asked Musk whether Marvin and Floki were getting along, he tweeted: "They are… not yet friends."