Thanks to social media, a baby hippo from Thailand has captured millions of people’s hearts. The four-month-old Moo Deng already is already sassy, feisty, and occasionally angry. Moo Deng’s natural shimmer, pink cheeks, and round shape made her a fashion icon. She has inspired art, makeup, and Halloween costumes. She is the world’s current it girl.
On July 10, a baby pygmy hippopotamus was born in the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand.
She was the seventh baby hippo born to her parents at the zoo, but she had a star quality that set her apart from the others. When her zookeeper showcased her on social media, the content went viral.
Soon, many people would know her name.
Her name, which means “bouncy pork” in Thai, was chosen by a public vote.
This is the story of Moo Deng’s rise to fame.
The rise of Moo Deng
From the start, the small hippo had a big personality. She was feisty, energetic, and seemingly angry — that is, when she wasn’t sleeping. The New York Times described her as “a bit of a diva.”
Videos posted online by Moo Deng’s zookeeper, Atthapon Nundee, sometimes showed Moo Deng running around wildly or biting the zookeeper’s knee. Other times, the hippo slept peacefully or rested her chin on her zookeeper’s hand.
The internet loved her.
One of the earliest videos of Moo Deng, posted in late July, surpassed 33 million views. From there, she continued to draw social media attention.
The baby hippo was so popular that she became a tourist destination. One New Yorker named Molly Swindall traveled for 21 hours to Thailand just to see Moo Deng, the New York Post reported.
Not everyone flew across the world for Moo Deng, but people did go out of their way to see her. Since Moo Deng became well-known, the number of people visiting the Khao Kheow Open Zoo has more than doubled.
People who had the chance to see Moo Deng in person posted viral videos of the hippo in her enclosure. Those who admired the hippo from afar found creative ways to churn out Moo Deng-inspired content.
Moo Deng’s pop culture takeover
From inspiring memes to being featured on the news, Moo Deng has become a pop culture icon. She also might just be social media’s newest fashionista.
TikTok creator Mei Pang posted a Moo Deng-inspired makeup tutorial that was viewed more than 10 million times.
Why would anyone want to do a hippo-inspired makeup look?
“Because she has everything,” Pang said in her video. “She has dewy skin, a great halo eye, and a zest for life.”
Sephora Thailand seemed to agree. The company used Moo Deng to promote several blush products, telling viewers to “wear your blush like a baby hippo.”
At the end of Pang’s makeup video, the creator imitated Moo Deng’s trademark expression, which some commenters simply call “the Moo Deng face.”
The Moo Deng face is a frantic, wide-eyed yell, with a mouth posture that looks somehow rectangular.
An Associated Press headline said Moo Deng has “the kind of face that launches a thousand memes.”
Sure enough, Moo Deng sparked memes and much more. Artists made Moo Deng animations dramatizing the hippo’s interactions with her zookeeper. People dressed up as Moo Deng for Halloween. Social media users posted Moo Deng edits. There is even a Moo Deng song.
On top of her social media fame, Moo Deng was featured in a Saturday Night Live skit in which cast member Bowen Yang dressed in a hippo costume. Acting as Moo Deng, Yang complained about the overwhelming onslaught of attention, comparing the experience to singer Chappell Roan’s recent struggles with fame.
“Leave her alone,” Yang said about Chappell Roan while acting as Moo Deng. “We both deserve patience and grace, so stop harassing her and stop throwing shellfish at her.”
The price of Moo Deng’s fame
As Saturday Night Live‘s Moo Deng skit made clear, fame is not all fun and games.
Although no one hurled shellfish at Chappell Roan, the same cannot be said for Moo Deng.
Visitors reportedly threw shellfish and other objects at Moo Deng and poured water on her in attempts to wake her up, TIME reported.
Narongwit Chodchoi, the director of Khao Kheow Open Zoo, called this harassment cruel and dangerous.
The zoo installed surveillance cameras, put up a sign warning visitors not to throw things at Moo Deng, threatened legal action against troublemakers, and limited access to the baby hippo’s enclosure on weekends, the Associated Press reported.
In addition to unruly visitors, Moo Deng’s fame led to some social media backlash. Although the funny dynamic between Moo Deng and her zookeeper contributed to the hippo’s rise to fame, some online commenters criticized the zookeeper for annoying Moo Deng.
But there is a reason for the zookeeper’s behavior, which can consist of poking, grabbing, and even slapping the baby hippo: Moo Deng will grow up in a zoo environment, which means she needs to be desensitized to her human caretakers.
Although zoos often receive criticism for holding animals in captivity, they can play a key role in protecting endangered species from extinction.
Pygmy hippos, native to West Africa, are an endangered species. It is estimated that fewer than 2,500 pygmy hippos are left in the world.
Pygmy hippos are smaller than the other more well-known hippo species: the common hippo. Pygmy hippos naturally live in swamps and dense forests, areas that are disappearing due to deforestation and human activity, according to Phys.org.
The Khao Kheow Open Zoo runs breeding programs for pygmy hippos and other endangered animals, the Associated Press said.
To raise more money for its work with endangered animals, the zoo launched an official Moo Deng clothing line, which proved to be quite popular.
A Moo Deng-inspired charity project will also raise money for flood victims and animals at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo and five other related zoos.
What’s with the baby animal obsession?
Moo Deng is just one star among an international trio of baby animals who recently achieved some sort of celebrity status.
The other two are Pesto, an unusually fluffy baby king penguin living in the Sea Life Aquarium in Melbourne, Australia, and Hua Hua, a four-year-old giant panda at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China, whose unique shape has been likened to an onigiri rice ball.
The combined cuteness of these three baby animals has caused a social media storm.
During the September 27 episode of Boston Public Radio, co-host Jim Braude and substitute co-host Andrea Cabral spent the last 20 minutes of the show talking about Moo Deng.
Braude said that many people find baby animals adorably irresistible.
“Does it provide relief from the tension and stress that surrounds us every day? It sure as hell does for me,” Braude said.
Cabral said there is a science behind why people love baby animals: Aside from providing relief, baby animals “are just these pure things.” They bring out people’s protective and caretaking instincts.
But baby hippos are not for everyone.
The episode featured a soundbite of Braude’s usual co-host, Margery Eagan, saying she prefers puppies. Eagan added that Moo Deng “looks like a space alien.”
Whether or not you like Moo Deng, her internet takeover is undeniable. She is the current it girl, as Boston Public Radio described her.
But as of recently, Moo Deng may have to share her stardom.
On October 30, a new pygmy hippo was born in the Edinburgh Zoo in Scotland. Like Moo Deng, Scotland’s baby hippo was also named after a local dish: Haggis.
Haggis made her debut in a TikTok video that has already been viewed more than one million times.
The Edinburgh Zoo captioned the video, “Moo Deng? Who deng? Introducing… Haggis.”
With that, the baby hippo internet takeover — and possibly a Moo Deng-Haggis rivalry — continues.
C
November 27, 2024 at 8:19 pm
Very epic article (except for the harassment)