There’s a new main girl in town: a baby pygmy hippopotamus named Moo Deng.
This queen has everything. Beauty and brains. Sass and spirit. A beat face and a biting wit. A cadre of dedicated followers and a face that launched a thousand memes.
If you’ve been anywhere on the internet over the past week or so, you’ve probably seen people fangirling over Moo Deng, posting memes about Moo Deng, or explaining that they feel like this or that Moo Deng today (most common? The Moo Deng biting meme, so relatable).
Here’s everything you need to know about our new she-ro in the latest edition of TL;DR.
Give me the TL;DR.
A baby pygmy hippopotamus named Moo Deng has captured hearts and minds around the world after her handlers at a Thailand zoo began posting her on social media.
Wait, I need more. What’s the background here?
Moo Deng is a 2-month-old pygmy hippopotamus who lives at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Si Racha, Thailand, with a bunch of other hippos. After her birth on July 25, she began to be posted on social media accounts affiliated with the zoo under the name @khamoo.andthegang (Khamoo is an older hippo at the zoo).
According to the New York Times, Moo Deng began to steal the show from her siblings right away due to her fun personality and honestly, rizz. But what made her star take off internationally was most likely this tweet from Yammi Saracino, a Bangkok-born artist, who told the English-speaking world about the hippo and the naming contest the zoo was having for her.
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The options, if you were wondering, were “Moo Deng, Moo Daeng, or Moo Sap,” and Moo Deng, which means “bouncy pork,” won in a landslide.
“The winner clearly was Moo Deng,” Saracino told the Times. “I think that partially had something to do with me, because I was like, ‘I’m voting for this name, so help me vote for this name.’”
From there, Moo Deng rocketed to superstardom. Saracino wasn’t surprised, telling the Times that the girl just had It.
“Moo Deng specifically, even in comparison to her siblings, is really bouncy and really feisty,” he said. “She has no teeth but is adamant about biting her keeper.”
I mean, slay!
What does the internet think?
The internet loves Moo Deng, of course!
Some of our favorite memes that have emerged feature Moo Deng screaming…
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Moo Deng biting…
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Moo Deng shook…
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And Moo Deng looking flawless.
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So, why should I care?
It’s an adorable baby hippo with sass. Why would you not care?
Has Moo Deng responded to her fame?
Moo Deng remains flawless and unbothered.
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However humans are ruining all the fun. The zoo had to post a warning on Moo Deng’s enclosure telling people not to throw things at Moo Deng after her new rush of visitors began behaving badly, and they have restricted visits to her area for only 5-minute windows during the week.
For those of us who want to enjoy our friend responsibly from afar, the zoo is setting up a Moo Deng livestream at the end of the month. And if you want to wear your love for her on your sleeve, it’s also developing Moo Deng merch.
Despite some bad visitors, the zoo’s director Narongwit Chodchoi tells CBS News they are hoping Moo Deng’s fame will have a positive impact on the zoo overall. They are hoping by trademarking her name and beginning to sell her image, they can help all their animals.
“After we do this, we will have more income to support activities that will make the animals’ lives better,” he said. “The benefits we get will return to the zoo to improve the life of all animals here.”
Am I going to care about or remember this in two weeks?
I really hope so! Moo Deng deserves to be famous forever.
What should I tell my friends about this?
Send them your favorite Moo Deng meme, and let the fun begin.
The post The Baby Pygmy Hippopotamus Moo Deng: Who Is She? appeared first on Glamour.