Meet Moo Deng, Pesto the penguin and other viral animals we love to love
Cute animals, especially baby animals, rule the web. Each time a new one appears, the details vary, but the fascination is the same.
It’s a bit like a game of Mad Libs, where you choose random words to fill in a sentence: In 2024, a (pygmy hippopotamus) from (Thailand) named (Moo Deng), captured some (bouncy pork or meatball) means the ‘ hearts, partly thanks to (looking smooth) and (biting her zookeeper’s ass).
Cute animals have been loved as long as animals and people have existed. You may have learned in school that the ancient Egyptians cherished their cats, but that is true it is incorrect to say that they ‘worshipped’ them (instead they had gods who they believed had shared cat-like qualities). And one Book from 1911Kittens and Cats: A First Reader, features cats dressed up and captioned in truly meme-like ways. In the internet age, Grumpy Cat became a $100 million meme machine in the 2010s, and other pets, including the wide-eyed Lil Bub and Noodles, the “bones/no bone day” pug, also had a big hit. Currently cats are like The Stink Walker, Lucille the senior rescue cat and without ears Cheddar Bob find new generations of fans.
Why do we love them so much? To start, medical studies have shown that we are in fact wired to love and protect small vulnerable things. And as anyone who’s followed Snoopy in the Peanuts comic strip, shared a cat video, or bought a puppy calendar knows, we have a special relationship with our animal friends. They stand in for us as jokes and memes, and their innocence alone brings a smile.
But right now there’s a trend to follow unusual animals: hippos and anteaters, penguins and seals, the kind of critters you’d never have in your own home. Here’s a look at just some of the amazing animals currently charming millions of people online.
Moo Deng: popularity of pygmy hippos
Born in July at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chon Buri, Thailand, Moo Deng deserves her viral fame. She’s cute and sassy and a little weird because her skin is always wet. Saturday Night Live cast member Bowen Yang played her during Weekend Update on September 29 and kept asking to be sprayed with a hose, which is apparently a favorite game of Moo Deng. She’s also been known to bite her zookeeper’s butt (her teeth are just coming through, so it’s not as painful as it sounds).
Moo Deng always looks a little mischievous, so she’s a prime candidate for memes, where her tendency to scream becomes a relatable response to the world we live in.
You can tune in and try to catch a glimpse of the little meatball on the zoo’s 24/7 webcam.
Pesto the Penguin: he’s huge
Just as Moo Deng started to go viral, another baby animal waddled onto the scene. Pesto the king penguinwho lives at the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium in Australia is just a baby, but you wouldn’t know it from his size. He looks huge compared to his penguin friends, weighing about 29 pounds and eating 25 fish a day.
The aquarium where he lives tries to explain his size on its web page, writing: “Pesto’s impressive weight is due to a number of factors. First, his biological father, Blake, is our largest and oldest penguin. Second, He had great parents. Raising him! So the combination of good genes and good parents explains his current weight, but he will lose a lot of it when he fledges (develops his adult feathers.)”
But eating so much has natural consequences. CNN notes this Pesto poops every 15 minutesand the staff rushes after him to keep his enclosure clean.
Pesto is so popular that the aquarium is even sold merchandise with his image on it, plus a hug.
Biscuits the Seal: Sad but sweet
Seals have always been a favorite animal for many, and a certain little seal with a sad face named Biscuits doesn’t know why she can’t be as popular as Moo Deng or Pesto.
Biscuits was admitted to Canada’s Vancouver Aquarium Marine Mammal Rescue Center on August 2 and was found separated from her mother near the Royal Vancouver Yacht Club, weighing just 15 pounds. The middle notes that Biscuits has been moved to a larger rehabilitation pool since admission, because she can now eat fish herself and compete with the other seals for food.
“She will move between pools as she progresses and develops her skills until she reaches her release weight,” the site says. “It may take just a few weeks or several months before a patient is ready for release, depending on health status and treatment plan, weight gain and availability of transportation.”
She may not yet have the popularity of Moo Deng or even Pesto, but a motherless seal that sits up like a human? Call Disney, we’ve found their next heartbreaking movie subject.
Beardsley Zoo Anteater: worm tongue for life
Anteaters have one of the funniest names in the animal kingdom, named for their diet of ants and termites. These mammals belong to the suborder Vermilingua, which translates as ‘worm tongue’, and once you see the tongue in question you’ll understand why. Anteaters have no teeth, but their tongues can grow up to two feet long and help them suck prey into their mouths.
Connecticut’s Beardsley Zoo in Bridgeport welcomed one baby giant anteater in late summer, and while he hasn’t achieved Moo Deng’s fame yet, come on, he’s an anteater, he’s already hilarious with just that huge pink tongue alone. Add to that the fact that he might ride around on his mother’s back for an entire year, and this little guy is as intriguing as any cat video.
However, the zoo’s fact sheet about the baby does not mention a name for it an article from USC’s Annenberg Media just calls it ‘Beardsley’, which isn’t a terrible name. Perhaps zoo keepers in Connecticut don’t want to seek Moo Deng and the rest’s fame, because they don’t seem to have set up a webcam or TikTok account to keep track of the little one.
