Moo Deng. It’s a name millions around the world have come to know. She’s the most obsessed-over, least controversial celebrity. Her dewy skin, her enviable lifestyle of frolicking and feasting, her eminently meme-able face have all made her an icon of the internet. She’s also … a hippopotamus.
Cute creatures going viral is nothing new. Seven years ago, the Cincinnati Zoo wanted TIME to name Fiona the hippo Person—er, Animal?—of the Year.
But 2024 seems to be on a different level of feral fascination.
The plump pygmy hippo from Thailand—who was born in July and whose name translates approximately to “bouncy pork”—rose to fame perhaps when she was needed most. “Observing animals, whether online or in person, can be therapeutic in many ways,” University of Washington psychology professor emeritus David Barash tells TIME. They can provide a comforting distraction, he says, “when so many people are depressed by the state of the world.”
And distract Moo Deng did.
What started as simply a new subject of photos and videos posted on Khao Kheow Open Zoo’s social media platforms quickly snowballed into the world’s latest It girl. Social media users obsessed over every new documentation of her teething and tumbling and infantile antics, and the followers of the zoo’s TikTok, Facebook, X, and Instagram accounts skyrocketed.
Moo Deng inspired fan art, merchandise, even makeup trends. Foot traffic to the zoo hit record highs, prompting new measures to protect Moo Deng’s safety and limitations on visiting hours. (A 24/7 livestream was set up for her most dedicated fans to get round-the-clock access.)
Jin Lee, a media sociologist at Curtin University in Australia, thinks Moo Deng initially resonated so widely because her relationship with her caretaker seemed genuine rather than staged or manufactured for clicks. “He spent a lot of time with her, and then he just started to post things about her,” says Lee, and people crave such authenticity.
Moo…
