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On Thursday, Moo Deng, a pygmy hippo from Thailand, celebrated her first birthday, drawing enthusiastic fans despite leaving behind her adorable infant stage that had catapulted her to internet stardom.
A large turnout is anticipated for a four-day event at Khao Kheow Open Zoo. Moo Deng, meaning “Bouncy Pork” in Thai, became an online sensation and garnered five million followers, thanks to her playful antics.
The festivities began on a national holiday featuring a talk about “Moo Deng’s cheekiness”, and a skincare company sponsored her fruit-adorned birthday cake.
Approximately 100 admirers gathered outside her enclosure Thursday morning, not as many as during her peak fame, but still filled with affection.
Jennifer Tang, a devoted fan, traveled from Malaysia, taking a week off to see her, expressing an obsession with what she described as a “chaos rage potato”.
“She’s really special to me, she makes me happy,” she said. Tang insisted Moo Deng is “still really sassy and funny” despite approaching maturity.
“Take a look at the crowd today – she’s still a legend,” she added.
Moo Deng has swollen from 5kg at birth to 93kg today.
She spent her birthday plodding in her enclosure, munching fruit and vegetables, a stark contrast to the energetic yet clumsy antics that earned her fame as a pint-sized pachyderm.
“Moo Deng used to be very naughty and jumped around all the time,” said Attaphol Nundee, one of her six handlers. “Now she only eats and sleeps.”
“Her popularity has slowed,” admitted the 32-year-old. “But some old fans have returned, and there are new ones too.” Despite her waning fame, “her eyes light up when people take photos of her”, he added.
Her caretakers plan to auction her possessions later, though it’s uncertain what she has collected during her stay at the Chonburi zoo, located two hours from Bangkok.
‘Cute doesn’t last long’
Moo Deng’s blubbery rose-blushed face launched a thousand memes and a plethora of merchandise, including piggy banks, party shirts and popsicles, prompting her owners to trademark her likeness.
At one point, Moo Deng boosted ticket sales fourfold at the zoo, where she resides in a simple, stone, five square meter (54 square feet) enclosure, which was once broadcast live around the clock to satisfy her online audience.
There were hopes her stardom would spotlight the plight of the endangered pygmy hippo, native to West Africa, with only around 2500 left alive according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature. But social media and search engine metrics suggest Moo Deng’s popularity peaked around late September last year before dramatically declining.
“Moo Deng went viral very quickly when she was born,” said Joshua Paul Dale, an academic who teaches courses on the phenomenon of “cuteness” at Japan’s Chuo University.
“Maybe part of our appreciation of cuteness is knowing that it’s something that doesn’t last very long,” he told AFP.
Moo Deng is part of a pantheon of captive animals who have enjoyed flash-in-the-pan popularity for their cuteness online, including Australia’s Pesto the penguin and China’s Hua Hua the panda.
Pygmy hippos have a lifespan of between 30 and 50 years.
