The sound comes from Sealook, a wordless animated series centred on a group of seals living in the Arctic, where the characters communicate through squeaks, cries and other expressive noises instead of dialogue. Clips of the baby seal crying were shared as short reaction audio online because the performance works without any context or translation. Its link to eating and mukbang edits, where the cry is used for hungry or disappointed moments, helped it spread beyond fans of the show into general meme and soundboard use.