On Instagram, there’s a niche for everything. From the beautiful to the strange, there’s something for everyone to enjoy. Perhaps one of the most adorable photographic niches on Instagram is the plushie community. This growing community of photography-enthusiasts consists of approximately 20.000 account run by a host of cute, adorable, silly and often adventurous stuffed animals. Much like Amelié's traveling gnome, they roam the world and offer followers a look into what their daily lives look like without their “humans” around.

Instagram’s plushie community is united through “The Instaplusies”, (@theinstaplushies), a full-of-life account with the mission to ”unite all plushies of Instagram and give them a platform to shine on”. The Instaplushies select the best pictures out of the thousands of contributions that are send in, and followers can vote which picture of the community’s latest member they enjoy the most.

Despite the oddity of being fronted by thousands of cuddly stuffed animals, the plushie community is one of the warmest and sweetest you’ll find on Instagram: creative individuals from around the world interact with each other through the social network, often arranging elaborate international “plushie meetups” to get to know each other. The community also gave rise to the concept of “plushiemail”, where the account-owners send each other postcards from across the globe.

The Instaplushies was kicked of by a picture of the “godfather” of the plushie community, the Llama With No Drama (@llamawithnodrama), who sports 141K followers. Another famous frequent collaborator is the adventurous leopard Fluffy, also known as “the Bite-Sized Backpacker” (@thebitesizedbackpacker), who travelled over 50 countries in the past few years.

Warm your heart and brighten your day(s) by following The Instaplushies and checking in with the plushie community!

More info: Instagram