Everything you need to know about the world's most famous (pygmy) hippo, Moo Deng
About three weeks ago, amid all the PopCrave celeb updates and Taylor Swift lyrics bots, a tiny baby hippo popped up on my X feed. I forwarded the post on to my flatmate writing something like ‘Soooo cute’, then thought nothing more of it.
Fast forward to now, and I see that baby hippo more than my own family. Moo Deng, as she’s been named by her Thai zookeepers, has, in less than a month, reached a level of notoriety on X usually reserved for singers or angry politicians. In honour of her rising star, here’s everything you need to know about 2024’s most unlikely celebrity…
She’s a Cancer
Moo Deng was born on 10th July 2024 to parents Jonah and Tony. That makes her a Cancer, which explains why she’s so emotional. She’s also the youngest of seven baby hippos, which explains why she’s such a terror.
She’s a pygmy hippopotamus
Moo Deng is small because she’s a baby (obviously) but also because she’s a pygmy hippopotamus. They’re much smaller than the common hippo (around 85cm tall), and are actually an endangered species, with a 2015 study finding fewer than 2,500 pygmies remain in the wild.
According to Wikipedia, pygmy hippos are ‘reclusive and nocturnal’. Then again, the site also says ‘pygmy hippos tend to ignore each other rather than fight’, so they have clearly never seen Moo Deng in action.
Her name means Bouncy Pork
Moo Deng means ‘Bouncy Pork’ (yes, really), and the name was chosen by more than 20,000 fans through an online poll. Her siblings include Moo Tun or ‘Stewed Pork’, Moo Wan or ‘Sweet Pork’, and Nadech, which, as far as Google Translate is concerned, has no pork-related meaning.
She’s too young to eat grass
Another adorable one: Moo Deng is only two months old and doesn’t have any teeth yet, so she’s too young to eat grass. But she still pretends to, because she’s copying her mum. I don’t know why, but that kind of makes me want to cry?
She loves to bite people
Science aside, Moo Deng is a diva. In clips shared of her, more often than not she’s biting her zookeeper or her very unimpressed mother.
The zookeeper in question, Atthapon Nundee, said: ‘Moo Deng specifically, even in comparison to her siblings, is really bouncy and really feisty. She has no teeth but is adamant about biting her keeper.’ Go off, Moo Deng.
She has her own cryptocurrency
Since going viral, plenty of big brands have jumped on board the Moo Deng train. Sephora is advertising its blushes as replicating the hippos ‘pink and peachy toned cheeks’, and you can buy Moo Deng emblazoned T-shirts for £10 on Etsy.
Moo Deng also has her own cryptocurrency (apparently it’s called a ‘memecoin’), and its price has climbed more than 1,400% since it was launched on 10 September. It’s unknown whether Moo Deng herself is receiving a cut.
You can only visit her for five minutes
Moo Deng is pretty much the most famous thing in Thailand right now, and visits to the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi have subsequently risen around 350%. Because of that, officials have restricted access to the celebrity chonkopotamus to weekends, with each group of 50 people restricted to five minutes with Moo.
She has her own livestream
‘Five minutes is not enough,’ we hear you cry. Well, fear not: Moo Deng has her own 24/7 livestream that you can watch here. Expect to see her rampaging around her pen and struggling to get herself in and out of her little pool.
She’s the subject of her own Time Magazine article
Yes, Moo Deng has taken America. A Time magazine piece about her ran with the headline: ‘She is an icon. She is a legend. She is the moment.’
The Washington Post, meanwhile, says: ‘Her skin is always moist and her cheeks pink and peachy.’ This is another of the mysteries around Moo Deng. She seemingly HATES baths (here she is squirming away from the water) but she is always wet. Suspicious, but adorable. We love you, Moo.
