"Moo Deng" The Viral Baby Hippo

Zz123 said:
Over the past week, I'm sure many of you have seen baby hippos appearing in the media. I wonder if in the past we've had animals that were popular and featured in the media all over the world.
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Loads of times - Fiona the hippo, Knut the polar bear, Harambe the gorilla (for obvious and still highly tragic reasons), even back before social media there were animals like Jumbo the elephant.
 
StoppableSan said:
Loads of times - Fiona the hippo, Knut the polar bear, Harambe the gorilla (for obvious and still highly tragic reasons), even back before social media there were animals like Jumbo the elephant.
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I’d also add:

Tilikum (Orca)
Paul (Octopus)
April (Giraffe)
Marius (Giraffe)
Koko (Gorilla)
Mzuri (Gorilla)
Ken Allen (Orangutan)
Jubilee (Asian elephant)
Chi Chi (Giant panda); tbh most Giant panda’s outside of China
 
I'd also add Fu Manchu and Ken Allen the escaping orangutans

Usually, in terms of famous zoo animals, great apes are the most common.

Actually, what if someone made a list of all the zoo animals that have achieved some level of notoriety and why. Could be interesting to see how the stats on certain factors add up.
 
This fuss over the baby Hippo is some strange fad it appears. Although always present in some degree, there seems to be even more of a mania these days everywhere for 'cuteness' in animals. But as soon as the calf starts to attain more adult proportions I think it will quickly be forgotten.
 
Pertinax said:
This fuss over the baby Hippo is some strange fad it appears. Although always present in some degree, there seems to be even more of a mania these days everywhere for 'cuteness' in animals. But as soon as the calf starts to attain more adult proportions I think it will quickly be forgotten.
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The zoo could always try to keep MD relevant the way Cincinnati does with Fiona the common hippopotamus and her brother Fritz.
 
She's made many more people aware of the existence of pygmy hippos. The DRC could use any funding help it can get for their conservation.

She can't grow fast enough, to get out of her cute stage: people are already throwing things at her, and there's concerns she'll be kidnapped and trafficked.
 
5thGatePlease said:
She's made many more people aware of the existence of pygmy hippos. The DRC could use any funding help it can get for their conservation.

She can't grow fast enough, to get out of her cute stage: people are already throwing things at her, and there's concerns she'll be kidnapped and trafficked.
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The DRC? Pygmy hippopotami don’t live in DRC nor Congo.
 
There was Flocke the Polar bear, too. She was born the year after Knut, and similarly had to be pulled for hand-rearing because of safety concerns.

The Nuremberg Zoo absolutely seized upon the opportunity to try to recreate Knut's runaway popularity. They didn't quite succeed. While Flocke was beloved by her fellow Germans, her situation never attracted much international attention. Certainly not to the extent that Knut's had done, anyway.

Flocke - Wikipedia

I wonder if Moo Deng going viral will cause more zoos around the world to think about adding Pygmy hippos to their collections? I've always wondered why they aren't more popular than they already are.
 
I was also going to mention that novelty is probably a big factor in her popularity. She's probably the first pygmy hippo a lot of people have ever seen, and no one expects a hippo that tiny and cartoonishly cute. Hopefully this gives a boost to conservation and zoo funding!
 
Wisp O' Mist said:
There was Flocke the Polar bear, too. She was born the year after Knut, and similarly had to be pulled for hand-rearing because of safety concerns.

The Nuremberg Zoo absolutely seized upon the opportunity to try to recreate Knut's runaway popularity. They didn't quite succeed. While Flocke was beloved by her fellow Germans, her situation never attracted much international attention. Certainly not to the extent that Knut's had done, anyway.

Flocke - Wikipedia
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And then there's the inverse, Siku from Skandinavisk Dyrepark which gained popularity as a cub, but his keepers didn't want to become a marketing mascot like Knut. We can see how fame can hurt an animal with how zoogoers have treated Moo Deng, so it's understandable that some zoos are wary of stardom.
 
Moo Deng 's popularity is partly due to the Zoo keeper's intention to present the cuteness of animals to the public. So he created a Facebook page called "Khao Moo and Friends" several years ago. The first animal introduced was a baby common hippo named Kha moo (Pork leg).In addition to baby animals, adult animals are also presented Two-toed sloth , Capybara , Spotted hyaena , etc.

Moo Tun, Moo Deng's older brother, is also very active and famous. But unfortunately, he was born during COVID, so people can't visit him at the zoo.

After the COVID-19 pandemic ended, an energetic, pink-cheeked baby pygmy hippo was born. "Moo Deng" When her photos and videos were released to the public, her cuteness and enthusiasm brought joy to those who saw them. People then shared this joy with their friends and others through social networks, especially Twitter. Eventually, she became a world-class celebrity.

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A very early example is Obaysch, the hippo that arrived at London Zoo in 1850: the newspapers covered his growing up extensively, sparking a true 'hippomania' which led to record attendancy of the zoological gardens. Obaysch even inspired a musical piece, The Hippopotamus Polka as a pianoforte duet by L. Saint Mars (1850). It became very popular in Londons music salons.When he passed in 1878, an extensive obituary appeared in the newspapers as well.
 
https://www.lifestyleasia.com/bk/en...ing-most-famous-zoo-animals-around-the-world/

Vancouver Aquarium has had many of their sea otters go viral over the years, from Nyac and Milo in the original "sea otters holding hands" Youtube video back in 2007 to Joey the sea otter pup during the 2020 pandemic.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/vancouver-sea-otters-a-hit-on-youtube-1.688725

This adorable otter livestream took over Twitch's hot tub meta. Now, meet the people behind it

This summer a video of Tofino the sea otter pup rescued by the VAMMRS received over 120,000,000 views and over 5,000,000 likes on Instagram.

Nadine Trottier on Instagram: "Our vet staff, animal care team and some lovely volunteers will be working around the clock for months to ensure proper care of this new pup. Here you see our vet team grooming her fur which is a key factor in maintaining proper body temperature and overall health. It takes a lot of time, energy, and people to properly care for this new patient. If you would like to support our efforts, we would greatly appreciate donations to @vammrs Any support, big or small, will go towards our efforts to care for patients like her Thank you all for the ongoing support! We greatly appreciate it "

And of course Rosa the sea otter at Monterey Bay Aquarium and Eddie the basketball-dunking sea otter at the Oregon Zoo:

Rosa (sea otter) - Wikipedia

Eddie the slam-dunking sea otters turns 20
 
I've seen a fair few Moo Deng memes pop up in my Facebook feed, I love pygmy hippos and she is a little cutie, but the reports I've heard about people throwing things at her, trying to wake her up while she's asleep and trying to spray her with water are concerning. If she goes through a lot of that now, I worry it'll badly it'll affect her when she grows up, like she turns out to be particularly aggressive towards people, or scared of coming out of her indoor area.
 
Jambi said:
I've seen a fair few Moo Deng memes pop up in my Facebook feed, I love pygmy hippos and she is a little cutie, but the reports I've heard about people throwing things at her, trying to wake her up while she's asleep and trying to spray her with water are concerning. If she goes through a lot of that now, I worry it'll badly it'll affect her when she grows up, like she turns out to be particularly aggressive towards people, or scared of coming out of her indoor area.
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I was afraid this would happen. It sounds like the zoo is taking measures to protect Moo Deng from harassment, hopefully they're strict enough. Moo Deng is precious and anyone who harasses her is a horrible, horrible person.

Some years ago, I saw a baby pygmy hippo at the Gladys Porter Zoo. I was so delighted by how cute it was, it looked like a little cartoon animal, so it's fun to see a baby pygmy hippo get famous.
 
Jambi said:
I've seen a fair few Moo Deng memes pop up in my Facebook feed, I love pygmy hippos and she is a little cutie, but the reports I've heard about people throwing things at her, trying to wake her up while she's asleep and trying to spray her with water are concerning. If she goes through a lot of that now, I worry it'll badly it'll affect her when she grows up, like she turns out to be particularly aggressive towards people, or scared of coming out of her indoor area.
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Those events were real at first, but now the zoo has installed CCTV cameras, added more staff, and organized the visits into rounds.
 
TheMightyOrca said:
I was afraid this would happen. It sounds like the zoo is taking measures to protect Moo Deng from harassment, hopefully they're strict enough. Moo Deng is precious and anyone who harasses her is a horrible, horrible person.

Some years ago, I saw a baby pygmy hippo at the Gladys Porter Zoo. I was so delighted by how cute it was, it looked like a little cartoon animal, so it's fun to see a baby pygmy hippo get famous.
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Moo Deng is now almost under surveillance 24 hours a day, so anyone who harms her will not only be punished socially but also legally.
 
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