The yell comes from Tarzan, the jungle hero created by Edgar Rice Burroughs in 1912, and it was popularised by the 1932 film Tarzan the Ape Man starring Johnny Weissmuller. Its distinctive warbling pattern became a stock jungle call, copied in cartoons, comedies and later television parodies whenever a character swung on vines or beat their chest. Online it survives as a shorthand reaction, reused in edits and soundboards because audiences recognise the call in the first second, even without seeing Tarzan at all.