Chinburi, Thailand (AP) — Just a month after the adorable Thai hippo calf Moo Deng was introduced on Facebook, her fame has become unstoppable.
Fans who can’t make the two-hour trip to Khao Kheow Zoo from the Thai capital Bangkok to see her in person can watch videos of her online.or simply scroll through social media to savor one meme after another.
Zookeeper Atthapon Nundee has been posting cute moments of the animals in his care for about five years. He never imagined that the newborn pygmy hippopotamus from the zoo would become an international megastar in a matter of weeks.
Cars lined up outside the zoo long before it opened Thursday. Visitors traveled from near and far for a chance to see the Chubby and expressive two-month-old baby in person at the zoo, 60 miles southeast of BangkokThe pool where Moo Deng lives with his mother, Jona, filled up almost immediately, with people gasping and cheering every time the pink-cheeked baby hippo made skittish moves.
“It was beyond expectations,” Atthapon told The Associated Press. “I wanted people to know about her. I wanted a lot of people to visit her, or see her online, or leave funny comments. I would have never imagined this.”
Moo Deng, which literally means “bouncing pig” In Thai, it is a type of meatball. The name was chosen by fans through a poll on social media, and matches his other siblings: Moo Toon (stewed pork) and Moo Waan (sweet pork)There is also a common hippopotamus in the zoo called Kha Moo (stewed pork leg).
“It’s such a tiny little lump. I want to roll it into a ball and swallow it whole!” said Moo Deng fan Areeya Sripanya while visiting the zoo on Thursday.
Artists have drawn caricatures, cakes, and latte art based on her, and social media platform X even featured her in its official account post.
His image adorns the memes of the German football team FC Bayernthe American basketball team Phoenix Suns and the American football team Washington Commandersas well as the New York Mets. Edited photos show her with headdresses or human-like situations.
Companies have also used his image. Sephora Thailand has a makeup tip: “wear your blush like a baby hippo,” highlighting her rosy cheeks, while the food delivery app Grab Thailand She imagined with photos what kind of food she could decorate.
With all that fame, zoo director Narongwit Chodchoi said they have begun copyrighting and trademarking the “Moo Deng the Hippo” to prevent the animal from being sold to someone else. “After doing this, we will have more income to support activities that will improve the lives of animals,” he said.
The zoo sits on nearly 2,000 acres of land and is home to more than 2,000 animals. It runs breeding programmes for many endangered species such as the Moo Deng. The pygmy hippopotamus, native to West Africa, is threatened by poaching and habitat loss. There are only 2,000 to 3,000 of them left in the wild.
To help fund the initiative, the zoo is making Moo Deng T-shirts and pants that will be ready for sale by the end of the month, with more merchandise to come.
Narongwit believes that One factor in Moo Deng’s fame is his name, which complements his energetic and chaotic personality. captured in Atthapon’s creative subtitles and video clips.
Appropriately, Moo Deng likes to “deng,” or bounce, and Atthapon has plenty of moments of her giddy bouncing on social media. Even when she’s not jumping, the hippo is endlessly cute: squirming as Atthapon tries to wash her, biting him as he tries to play with her, calmly closing her eyes as he rubs her pink cheeks or her chubby belly.
Atthapon, who has worked at the zoo for eight years caring for hippos, sloths, capybaras and binturongs, said the hippos Babies tend to be more playful and energeticand become calmer as they grow older.
The zoo has seen a surge in visitors since Moo Deng’s rise to fame, so much so that it now has to limit public access to the baby’s enclosure to five-minute windows throughout the day on weekends.
Narongwit said the zoo has been receiving more than 4,000 visitors on weekdays and more than 10,000 on weekends, up from 800 on weekdays and 3,000 on weekends.
But fame has also brought some aggressive visitors to Moo Deng, who wakes up ready to play for about two hours a day. Some videos showed visitors splashing water or throwing objects at a sleeping Moo Deng to try to wake her up. The hippo pool now has a sign warning against throwing things into Moo Deng, posted prominently at the front in Thai, English and Chinese.
Narongwit said the zoo would take action under the animal protection act if people mistreat the animal. When videos emerged of people mistreating Moo Deng, the backlash was fierce. The zoo director said they have not seen anyone do it again since.
For fans who can’t make the trip or are disheartened after seeing the crowds Moo Deng draws, the Khao Kheow Open Zoo installed cameras and plans to begin a 24-hour live stream of the baby hippo next week.