Lion King-ing, the latest internet phenomenon, sees pet owners lifting the animals above their head

Lion King-ing, the latest internet phenomenon, sees pet owners around the world lifting their animals above their head.

The phenomenon, copying a famous scene from the film The Lion King, follows other such memes as planking, owling and Tebowing.

The videos take their inspiration from the famous scene in the beginning of The Lion King where the wise mandrill Rafiki presents the young Simba to the herd.

In the movie, the Elton John “Circle of Life” song is heard, and many of the online videos have the same music.

“I think that everyone with a cat or a small dog has done it before,” said Jeff Wysaski, a blogger on Pleated-jeans.com who made a viral video of the phenomenon from clips other pet owners had posted on YouTube.

“I checked on YouTube, and, lo and behold, there were a ton of videos of people doing it. I thought it would be funny to put them together.

“I think most people don’t talk about it, but when you bring it up other cat owners, they’re like, <<I do that>>, <<I have done that>.”

Jeff Wysaski admitted he “Lion Kings” his own tabby cat.

“She’s not too happy about it,” he said.

“A lot of the animals are … just putting up with us and our ridiculousness.”

Lion King-ing is the latest internet phenomenon to join the ranks of planking, Tebowing and owling.

Planking involved people posting pictures of themselves lying flat in random places for no apparent reason.

Tebowing took its name from the Denver Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow, who dropped to one knee and paused with a hand resting on his forehead as he prayed during a game.

Images soon starting spring up all over the internet of people pulling the exact same pose.

Owling consisted of people crouching on their haunches and staring into the middle distance, like an owl.