1000’s of excited followers flocked to a Thai zoo on Thursday to have fun the primary birthday of Moo Deng, the lovable child pygmy hippo that has change into a social media sensation.
The Khao Kheow Open Zoo was overrun with Moo Deng followers on the primary of 4 days of actions marking the hippo’s birthday. Kids beneath 12 years outdated can enter the zoo, a couple of two-hour drive from the capital Bangkok, without spending a dime all through the extravaganza.
Excited followers
Lots of Moo Deng’s followers flew miles to see her.
CHANAKARN LAOSARAKHAM/AFP by way of Getty Pictures
Amongst them was Molly Swindall, who traveled from New York for the celebrations. She was seen handing a tray of meals to a zoo keeper for Moo Deng’s breakfast, which the child hippo and her mom Jona rapidly devoured.
“I simply cherished her a lot and determined, you realize what, I’ve three or 4 days off of labor,” Swindall stated. “I could make it work to fly to Thailand. I’ll solely be there for about 30 hours, however that is sufficient to go see Moo Deng. And that is precisely what I did.”
By Thursday afternoon, the variety of guests reached 12,000, zoo director Narongwit Chodchoy stated. Regardless of the noise of tourists calling out for her consideration, Moo Deng appeared peaceable as she took a dip in a pond in her enclosure.
Followers photographed the child hippo with their cameras or cell telephones and sang “Pleased birthday” as her birthday cake, made from a wide range of vegatables and fruits, was positioned close to the pond.
Lauren DeCicca / Getty Pictures 
“Moo Deng is my glad tablet, and she or he’s my vitality tablet, my curing tablet. She’s my vitamin!” stated Thea Chavez, who flew in from Houston, Texas.
One other fan, Jennifer Tang from Malaysia, leaned over the enclosure to take photos.
“She makes me glad. Every time I am burdened at work I pull up images of Moo Deng,” Tang stated. “So my complete workplace is aware of that I am right here … They let me take per week off.”
The zoo held on-line auctions to have fun Moo Deng’s birthday, with images, footprints and a meals container on provide to boost funds for all of the animals beneath their care.
Additionally they held an public sale for the consideration of sponsoring her birthday cake, which went for 100,000 baht ($3,065.)
A star child hippo
Moo Deng soared to stardom shortly after she was born, largely because of her keeper, Atthapon Nundee, who shared lovable photos and movies of the child hippo on social media. Atthapon retains Moo Deng’s followers up to date on enjoyable hippo moments — how she squirms as he tries to clean her, bites him as he tries to play, or calmly closes her eyes as he rubs her stomach.
The identify Moo Deng, which accurately means “bouncy pork” in Thai, was chosen by followers by way of a ballot on social media. It matches the names of her different siblings: Moo Toon (stewed pork) and Moo Waan (candy pork). There’s additionally one other hippo on the zoo named Kha Moo (stewed pork leg).
Lauren DeCicca/Getty Pictures 
The zoo — which sits on 800 hectares (nearly 2,000 acres) of land and is house to greater than 2,000 animals — noticed spikes of tourists since shortly after Moo Deng was born. However Narongwit stated the variety of guests has considerably dropped for the reason that peak of Moo Deng’s fame. He stated the zoo has had about 2,000 guests throughout a weekday and round 5,000 throughout weekends over the previous few months — about half the numbers it noticed at its peak.
“Moo Deng is a consultant of all wild animals, and she or he helps everybody perceive the roles of zoos,” Narongwit advised The Related Press. “She speaks for all practically extinct animals, and turns folks’s consideration to their conservation.”
What to find out about pygmy hippos
The zoo additionally runs breeding applications for a lot of endangered species, together with the pygmy hippopotamus. The species is native to West Africa, the place it’s threatened by poaching and lack of habitat. There are solely 2,000 to three,000 left within the wild. Pygmy hippos are actually discovered within the wild in solely 4 nations: Côte d’Ivoire, Guinea, Liberia and Sierra Leone, in line with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance. The species is threatened by logging, farming and growing human growth.
Carola Frentzen/image alliance by way of Getty Pictures 
Pygmy hippos are one among simply two hippo species, in line with the African Wildlife Basis. The big/widespread river hippo is the third-largest residing land mammal, after elephants and white rhinos. Pygmy hippos can develop to weigh greater than 600 kilos, whereas a river hippo could weigh as much as 10 occasions greater than a pygmy hippo, in line with the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.
Moreover the dimensions distinction, the pygmy hippo can be much less aquatic than the widespread hippo, in line with the San Diego Zoo. Their toes are much less webbed, they usually even have only one pair of incisors, whereas the widespread hippo has two or three.
Pygmy hippos are largely nocturnal animals, in line with specialists. Their common life span ranges from 30 to 50 years.
