Baby pygmy hippo Moo Deng was born in Thailand on July 10. At two months old, Moo Deng’s caretakers first shared their “bouncing pig” baby on Instagram, and the world has never been the same since. Now two weeks after that seismic online introduction, Khao Kheow Open Zoo is giving the globe what it wants, nay needs: Moo Deng is getting her very own 24-hour livestream! Yes my hippo loving friends, the cameras are being set up as we speak so that the feed can begin this week. Between this news and Moo Deng applying for her own patent recently, I’d say this pork-named pygmy baby has officially landed. (Even if she’s still prone to losing her webbed footing.) Well, there goes my productivity for the rest of the year…
For fans wishing to tune in to see what Moo Deng — whose name means bouncy pig — is up to in Thailand’s Khao Kheow Open Zoo, 24-hour cameras are being set up to capture all her adorable antics. The livestream is expected to start in the last week of September.
PEOPLE reached out to the Khao Kheow Open Zoo for more information about the upcoming livestream.
Moo Deng’s schedule currently includes playing with the zookeepers at 8 a.m., followed by a nap, and then an afternoon viewing session for an hour starting at 2 p.m.
Moo Deng was born in July and made her debut on Instagram on Sept. 6. Since then, her personality and many faces have become omnipresent online. Fans consider her a “lifestyle icon” and “the it girl” on X (formerly Twitter), as videos of her getting cleaned with a hose and slipping around her enclosure have gone viral.
Other images of her playfully biting a zookeeper’s knee and a video of her mimicking her mom chomping her food have also won the hearts of many.
Zookeeper Atthapon Nundee told the Associated Press that he didn’t expect the hippo to become so popular. “It was beyond expectation,” Atthapon said. “I wanted people to know her. I wanted a lot of people to visit her, or watch her online, or leave fun comments. I never would’ve thought [of this].”
AP reports that the zoo has drawn more than 4,000 visitors each day during the week and more than 10,000 over the weekend, all crowding around to check out Moo Deng. Weekend visitors are limited to just five minutes at her pen due to the demand.
In fact, Moo Deng has become so famous that she is getting her own patent. The zoo will acquire a trademark on “Moo Deng the hippo” which could prevent others from profiting from her.
Atthapon told AP that the patent could bring the zoo “more income to support activities that will make the animals’ lives better.”
The zoo’s gift shop currently has shirts and pants covered in Moo Deng’s image for sale.
Her day starts at 8am local time? I hope that jives with Moo Deng, because I read online (so it must be true) that pygmy hippos “are known to be solitary and nocturnal.” That description leapt out at me because I had the soul-affirming realization that I had finally found my spirit animal. But I know Moo Deng’s caretakers at Khao Kheow Open Zoo love and respect her, so perhaps “solitary and nocturnal” only applies to pygmy hippos in the wild. At least she gets to go down for a nap immediately after playtime. And no, it did not escape my notice that they declined to confirm if/when Moo Deng rises from that nap later in the day (#Goals). But this is the profound beauty of Moo Deng! She’s living her absolute best life as a lounging, rotund, bubble-snorting-out-of-her-nostril little nugget, and we love her for it! We don’t condemn her for being lazy or sloppy or silly — that’s why we celebrate her! Oh what a wonderful world this would be if we extended that same grace to our own species. Until that time comes, I will do the next best thing and procure a set of my own Moo Deng pants from the zoo. Because they are — and this isn’t hyperbole — the greatest thing to happen to pants in the entire history of pantsdom.
ขอสวบหน่อยได้มั้ย#หมูเด้ง #moodeng#khaokheowzoo pic.twitter.com/IxCLEcBEgi
— สวนสัตว์เปิดเขาเขียว Khao Kheow Open Zoo (@kkopzoo) September 23, 2024
ใครจะมาหาน้องหมูเด้ง จดไว้นะ
08.00-09.00 ตื่นเพราะล้างบ่อ อาบน้ำ และรอแม่กินอาหาร
09.00-10.00 เดินโชว์ตัวเตรียมลงน้ำนอน
10.00-12.30 นอนในน้ำ
12.30-13.00 อาจจะขึ้นมาเดินเล่น หรือขึ้นมานอนบนบก
13.00-13.30 นอนบนบก
13.30-14.00 นอนในน้ำ
14.00-14.30… pic.twitter.com/glRlyZG7Wo
— สวนสัตว์เปิดเขาเขียว Khao Kheow Open Zoo (@kkopzoo) September 22, 2024