Moo-Deng is 2 months old and already has more TikTok followers than you. 2.5 million, to be exact. You could conceivably gain that many followers, except you aren’t an adorable tiny little pygmy hippo who is constantly wet and, in pictures, always looks like she’s screaming. You are, at best, only wet and screaming.
Moo-Deng has become a viral sensation for merely existing. If you want to know why, simply lay your eyes upon Moo-Deng and you’ll instantly get it.
Moo-Deng, whose name means Bouncy Pork in Thai, lives in Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi, Thailand. She quickly rose to fame thanks to her zookeeper, 31-year-old Atthapon Nundee, who has been curating the TikTok account with 2.5 million followers with clips of some of the cutest animals from the zoo.
“The moment I saw Moo-Deng born, I set a goal to make her famous,” he said.
Moo Deng has dominated the account pretty much since she was born. She’s gotten so big that Sephora Thailand posted Moo Deng-inspired blushes so customers can “where your blush like a baby hippo.”
Her massive popularity has caused a huge spike in zoo visitors, along with some security concerns. Some—let’s call them assholes and scumbags—who want to see Moo-Deng awake and running around the way she is in her videos have taken to throwing water and objects at her to wake her up. The zoo has since installed a camera to closely monitor visitors and have assigned a security guard to her pen.
Pygmy hippos are native to West Africa and are critically endangered, with only around 2,000 to 3,000 remaining in the wild. There aren’t many of them left, and the ones we left are filling our social media feeds with delightful cuteness. Let’s not ruin it by making their lives miserable. If you go see Moo-Deng, be nice.
The post Her Name Is Moo-Deng. Look at Her. Look at Moo-Deng. appeared first on VICE.
The post Her Name Is Moo-Deng. Look at Her. Look at Moo-Deng. appeared first on VICE.
