This Pup Is Going Viral for Climbing to the Top of an Egyptian Pyramid
Paramotorists spotted the dog while soaring above one of Giza’s pyramids last week
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Editors’ note, December 2, 2024: After this article’s publication, new reporting by the New York Times’ Franz Lidz revealed that the footage of the dog was taken by Alex Lang, not Marshall Mosher. Mosher edited the footage, made public statements indicating he had taken it himself, and posted the edited version on his own social media channels. The original story is below.
Paramotorist Marshall Mosher was soaking up his bird’s-eye view of Egypt’s Pyramids of Giza when he noticed a bit of movement on one of the ancient structures. He realized a dog had climbed all the way to the top of one of the towering landmarks.
Now, Mosher’s video post of the precocious pup is going viral on social media, with online commenters wondering how the pooch managed to reach the summit—and whether or not the dog made it back down safely.
Mosher spotted the dog during Egypt Gate 6, an annual event that brings together paramotorists from all over the planet to soar above the pyramids. CNN’s Salma Arafa reports that when the paramotorists headed out around sunrise one day last week, several of them saw a four-legged animal running around at the top of the Pyramid of Khafre, Egypt’s second-largest pyramid behind the Great Pyramid.
At first, one paramotorist thought the creature was a mountain lion, reports Arafa. But the group soon deduced that it was probably one of the many stray dogs that hang out around the pyramids.
The pup was barking and jogging back and forth confidently, prompting paramotorist Alex Lang to describe the animal as “the king of the pyramid,” reports the Washington Post’s Frances Vinall.
“I think it resonates because it’s just a feel-good story—a dog, happy, barking at birds, enjoying the view,” he says to the Post.
Mosher worried briefly that the dog might not be able to descend the pyramid. But he figured the canine was probably pretty resourceful.
“If he got himself up, he can get himself down unless he found some secret portal that helped him teleport to the top of the pyramids,” Mosher tells CNN.
The next day, Lang and Mosher returned to the pyramids to look for the dog. But the pup was nowhere to be found.
Another video, posted by Egypt’s tourism agency, showed a similar-looking pooch descending a pyramid. A text overlay on the clip read: “The lost dog who lives on the pyramids came back down!”
Some online commentators worried about the pup’s well-being, some took the opportunity to crack jokes and others drew a connection between the stray and Anubis, the Egyptian god of the dead typically depicted as a jackal or a human with a jackal’s head.
For his part, Mosher is using his newfound internet fame to help raise awareness about Chance Animal Rescue, a group working to help injured street dogs in Egypt. An estimated 15 million stray dogs live throughout Egypt, as Isabel Debre reported for the Associated Press in 2020.
“The stray dog situation here is a huge challenge,” Mosher writes on Instagram. “While the world is so in love with our famous pyramid dog, I’d love to help these friendly pups to get the love they deserve.”
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