Why Is Moo Deng So Popular Right Now? This ‘Bouncy Meatball’ Has a Livestream and Merch [CNET]

September 28, 2024 Gael Cooper

This slippery-looking baby pygmy hippopotamus has captured the hearts of people around the world.

CNET editor Gael Fashingbauer Cooper, a journalist and pop-culture junkie, is co-author of “Whatever Happened to Pudding Pops? The Lost Toys, Tastes and Trends of the ’70s and ’80s,” as well as “The Totally Sweet ’90s.” She’s been a journalist since 1989, working at Mpls.St.Paul Magazine, Twin Cities Sidewalk, the Minneapolis Star Tribune, and NBC News Digital. She’s Gen X in birthdate, word and deed. If Marathon candy bars ever come back, she’ll be first in line.

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Co-author of two Gen X pop-culture encyclopedia for Penguin Books. Won “Headline Writer of the Year” award for 2017, 2014 and 2013 from the American Copy Editors Society. Won first place in headline writing from the 2013 Society for Features Journalism.

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Corinne Reichert (she/her) grew up in Sydney, Australia and moved to California in 2019. She holds degrees in law and communications, and currently writes news, analysis and features for CNET across the topics of electric vehicles, broadband networks, mobile devices, big tech, artificial intelligence, home technology and entertainment. In her spare time, she watches soccer games and F1 races, and goes to Disneyland as often as possible.

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Every so often, an unusual and adorable animal captures the hearts of internet users and becomes a viral star. Remember April the giraffe, who delivered her baby on a live webcam back in 2017? (RIP, sweet mama — April passed in 2021.) Now it’s Moo Deng’s turn to beguile the world. Moo Deng, a baby pygmy hippopotamus, is delighting the world from her home at a Thailand zoo.

Here’s what to know about this chubby cutie.

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

Moo Deng is a female pygmy hippo 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 to be 50 but are an endangered species, with only 2,000 to 2,500 adults in existence.

The Times reports that while zookeeper Atthapon Nundee began sharing Moo Deng on social media right away, the attached video now has more than 2.6 million views. The zoo held a Facebook poll to name her.

The pygmy hippo Moo Deng is sprayed with a hose to clean off — Splish-splash, Moo Deng’s getting a bath.

Lillian Suwanrumpha/Getty Images

What does ‘Moo Deng’ mean?

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

Moo Deng, which The New York Times says translates to “bouncy pork,” easily beat out Moo Sap (“minced pork”) and Moo Daeng (“red pork”). The Independent says Moo Deng is a kind of meatball, which is equally great as 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 look at. She’s mischievous too; she’s teething so she likes to nip at her keeper. She’s also still a baby, which leads to fun welcome-to-the-world videos, such as one showing her learning how to walk up a slanted edge of her pool.

You’ll see her in plenty of memes. Just as with the dearly departed Grumpy Cat and other famed internet animals, it’s easy to slap a caption on a photo of Moo Deng that depicts her dealing with life as we do. BuzzFeed even has a Moo Deng AI image generator that puts her into all kinds of situations, such as becoming president or eating a Dole Whip at Disney World.

The zookeeper who cares for pygmy hippo Moo Deng in Thailand cradles the animal's head in order to take a photo. — The zookeeper who cares for pygmy hippo Moo Deng in Thailand cradles the animal’s head in order to take a photo.

Picture Alliance/Getty Images

How can I watch Moo Deng living her best life?

There’s a 24/7 webcam in the hippopotamus section at the zoo where Moo Deng lives. (You may need to scroll down and click on the “Live Streaming” tab.) Bear time zones in mind; you may check it in the afternoon where you are and find out it’s dark and quiet in Thailand, with no animals visible.

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

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

Moo Deng merch: The face that launched 1,000 products

Moo Deng’s global popularity has inspired a line of official merchandise that’s being sold by Khao Kheow Open Zoo, including stylish pants and a button-down shirt, as well as T-shirts that sold out quickly.

If you missed out on scoring an official piece of merch, 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 — though presumably waiting for the restock to buy directly from the zoo will support Moo Deng’s lifestyle.

You can find Moo Deng plush toys, Moo Deng T-shirts, Moo Deng costumes, Moo Deng pants, Moo Deng pajamas, Moo Deng hats, Moo Deng mugs — and basically anything else your hippo-loving heart desires. There’s even Moo Deng crypto.

How to watch Pesto the penguin

If you prefer flightless aquatic birds to pygmy hippos, you can follow Pesto, the 9-month-old baby king penguin at the Sea Life Aquarium in Melbourne, Australia. At 48 pounds, Pesto is bigger than many adult penguins already and eats 25 fish a day to stay that way.

“Pesto is the besto!” the aquarium brags on its webpage.