Why is Moo Deng so popular? This ‘Pork Meatball’ has a 24/7 live stream

Unusual and cute animals every now and then win the hearts of Internet users and become viral online stars. Remember April the giraffe, who delivered her baby via a live webcam in 2017? (RIP, dear mom – April passed in 2021.) Now it’s Moo Deng’s turn to surprise the world. Moo Deng, a baby pygmy hippopotamus, seduces the world from her home in a zoo in Thailand.

Here’s everything you need to know about this buxom cutie — and check out all our favorite Moo Deng memes.

Who is Moo Deng, and how did she go viral?

Moo Deng is a female pygmy hippopotamus born in July at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chon Buri, Thailand. Moo Deng is the seventh baby born at the zoo to her mother, Jona, who is 25 years old, and her father, Tony, who is 24, the Independent reports. Pygmy hippos can live up to fifty years, but are an endangered species, with only 2,000 to 2,500 mature individuals.

The Times reports that while zookeeper Atthapon Nundee immediately started sharing Moo Deng on social media, the attached video has now been viewed more than 2.6 million times. The zoo conducted a Facebook poll to give her a name.

What does ‘Moo Deng’ mean?

Moo Deng’s popularity really took off when content creator Yammi Saracino translated the naming poll into English shared it on social media.

Moo Deng, which translates to “bouncy pork,” according to The New York Times, easily defeated Moo Sap (“minced pork”) and Moo Daeng (“red pork”). The independent says that Moo Deng is a kind of meatball, which is as nice a name for this little meatball.

Why do people love Moo Deng so much?

Have you seen her? The roly-poly little viral star is just fun to watch. She is also mischievous; She is teething, so she likes to nibble on her caregiver. She’s also still a baby, which leads to fun welcome videos, like one that features her learning how to walk up a sloping edge of her swimming pool.

You will see her in many memes. As with the dearly departed Grumpy Cat and other famous internet animals, it’s easy to add a caption to a photo of Moo Deng that shows her coping with life the way we do. BuzzFeed even has one Moo Deng AI image generator which puts her in all kinds of situations, like becoming president or eating a Dole Whip at Disney World.

How can I see Moo Deng living her best life?

There is one 24/7 webcam in the hippo department in the zoo where Moo Deng lives. (You may need to scroll down and click the “Live Streaming” tab.) Consider time zones; You can check it out in the afternoon where you are and find that Thailand is dark and quiet, with no visible animals.

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

Plus, on September 19, the Associated Press streamed an hour of Moo Deng cuteness, and you can watch that on YouTube.

Moo Deng merchandise: the face that launched 1,000 products

Moo Deng’s worldwide popularity has led to a range of official merchandise sold by Khao Kheow Open Zoo, including stylish trousers and a button-down shirtas well as T-shirts that sold out quickly.

If you’ve missed an official piece of merchandise, a quick Google search shows that you can find unofficial Moo Deng shirts being sold on everything from Amazon to Etsy and everywhere in between – although you’ll probably have to wait until the stock is restocked to buy directly from the store. zoo will support Moo Deng’s lifestyle.

You can find Moo Deng stuffed animals, Moo Deng T-shirts, Moo Deng costumes, Moo Deng pants, Moo Deng pajamas, Moo Deng hats, Moo Deng mugs – and basically anything your hippo-loving heart desires. There is even Moo Deng crypto.

How to view Pesto the penguin

If you prefer flightless birds to pygmy hippos, you can follow this Pesto, the 9-month-old baby king penguin at the Sea Life Aquarium in Melbourne, Australia. At 28 kilos, Pesto is already bigger than many adult penguins and he eats 25 fish a day to stay that way.

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