Watch Moo Deng, the cute, cheeky viral pygmy hippo, on a 24/7 live webcam

Every now and then, an unusual animal captures the hearts of internet users and becomes a viral star. Remember April the giraffe, who gave birth to her baby via live webcam in 2017? (RIP, sweet mama — April passed away in 2021). Now, meet Moo Deng, a baby pygmy hippo who’s been charming the world from her home at a zoo in Thailand. Here’s what you need to know about this buxom cutie.

Who is Moo Deng and how did she go viral?

Moo Deng is a female pygmy hippopotamus who was born in July at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chon Buri, Thailand. zoo held a Facebook poll to give her a name. Moo Deng, which translates as “bouncing pork” according to The New York Times, easily defeated Moo Sap (“minced pork”) and Moo Daeng (“red pork”). The Independent says Moo Deng is a kind of meatball, which is also a great name for this little meatball.

Moo Deng is the seventh baby born at the zoo to her mother, Jona, who is 25, and her father, Tony, who is 24, the Independent reports. Pygmy hippos can live up to 50 years but are an endangered species, with only 2,000 to 2,500 mature individuals left.

The Times reports that while zookeeper Atthapon Nudee Moo Deng immediately began sharing her name on social media, she didn’t really become popular with fans until content creator Yammi Saracino translated the naming poll into English and shared it on social mediaThe attached video has been viewed more than 2.6 million times.

Why do people love Moo Deng so much?

Have you seen her? The chubby little viral star is just plain fun to watch. And she’s mischievous, too — she’s teething but loves to nip at her caregiver. And she’s a baby, which makes for some cute welcome-to-the-world videos, like one where she learning how to walk over a sloping edge of her pool.

You’ll also see her in plenty of memes. Like the dearly departed Grumpy Cat and other famous internet pets, it’s easy to slap a caption on a photo of Moo Deng that depicts her coping with life the way we do. BuzzFeed even has a Moo Deng AI Image Generator That puts her in all kinds of situations, like running for president or eating a Dole Whip at Disney World.

How can I see Moo Deng living her best life?

There is a 24/7 webcam in the hippo area at the zoo where Moo Deng lives. (You may need to scroll down and click on the LIVE STREAMING tab.) There are time zones, however, so if you check your time in the afternoon, you’ll find that Thailand is dark and quiet and there are no animals to be seen.

If there’s nothing to watch when you tune in, the zoo also shares recorded livestreams of Moo Deng on his YouTube channel.

Additionally, on September 19, the Associated Press streamed an hour of adorable Moo Deng photos, which you can view on YouTube.

And if you prefer to see flightless birds in the water rather than pygmy hippos, you can follow this Pesto, the nine-month-old baby king penguin at the Sea Life Aquarium in Melbourne, Australia. At 48 pounds, Pesto is already larger than many adult penguins and eats 25 fish a day to stay that way.

“Pesto is the best!” the aquarium boasts on its web page.