Everybody scrolls on some kind of social media throughout the day. According to datareportal.com, “The “typical” internet user spends almost two and a half hours each day using social media platforms, equating to more than one-third of our total online time.” TikTok takes up the majority of this time according to studies. But one certain animal has been the topic of everyone’s gossip, one certain Pygmy Hippo.
Moo Deng, translated to “Bouncy Pork” in English, is a Pygmy Hippopotamus living in a zoo located in Si Racha, Chonburi, Thailand. She was born July 10, 2024, (meaning she’s 5 months old) and currently lives in the Khao Kheow Open Zoo with her mother and her father. Aside from her cuteness and her unique color, as well as species, this hippo is also considered to be an energetic, playful diva. She rarely takes baths, even though her handler tries his best to get her to take one. She can always be seen bouncing around her enclosure, annoying both her handler and her mother.
This fame has brought lots of good, and bad, attention to the Moo Deng. Guests of the zoo have recently been seen throwing trash and other non-perishable objects into Moo Deng’s enclosure to invoke a reaction for internet clout. Of course, this causes an increase in littering at the zoo, and hurts Moo Deng and her mother’s welfare. We shouldn’t forget that even though they’re in an enclosure, Moo Deng is still an animal, and will still eat anything that she sees as food. Throwing this litter into her enclosure could potentially damage her health.
Apart from her cute looks and sassy attitude, she can also be seen as a psychic.
On November 5, 2024, the Khao Kheow Open Zoo posted a video of Moo Deng’s election predictions. They placed two baskets of fruit in front of Moo Deng, both exactly the same. One read “Trump” and the other one read “Kamala.” People can assume this was solely by chance, but surprisingly, Moo Deng picked the watermelon treat that said “Trump,” and behold, Trump won the election. Now, this begs the question, what else can Moo Deng predict? What else will Moo Deng predict? Will she predict again at all, or will she accept the popularity she’s already gained and move on? We don’t exactly know this information yet, but I can see that Moo Deng’s future is bright.
