Moo Deng: How this pygmy hippo went from being a zoo baby to a social media celebrity

Native to West Africa, the pygmy hippo is threatened by human activities, such as logging, mining and poaching, and there are only 2,000 to 2,500 left in the world, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Hundreds of visitors queued at the zoo for five minutes in the enclosure.

Visitors look at Moo Deng, a two-month-old female pygmy hippo who has recently become a viral internet sensation, alongside her mother Jona, 25, at Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi province. (Image credit: AFP)

One group said they woke up at 5 am to make the two-hour drive from Bangkok to see the celebrity.

A visitor said she hoped more Thais would come and "post about Moo Deng online so that more people will come to see her".

Moo Deng's caretaker and social media manager Atthapon Nundee, 31, said the rise of short-form videos has turbocharged the pygmy hippo's fame and hopes it will be a boon for biodiversity preservation.

"With more and more images of pygmy hippos online, more people fell in love with them. They are poached in the wild, so with more people caring about them, it might prevent their poaching," he told AFP.

A 2022 study published by the Royal Society of Canada's Academy of Science shows that social media can play both positive and negative roles in wildlife conservation.

Public attention may help raise awareness about endangered wildlife but can increase the risk of species exploitation as more people try to come in contact with them.

Zookeeper Attapon “Benz” Nundee pets Moo Deng, a two-month-old female pygmy hippo who has recently become a viral internet sensation, at Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi province. (Image credit: AFP)

Zoo management says the extra earnings from skyrocketing visitor numbers -– almost double over the weekend -- will go towards improving the pygmy hippo enclosure and the zoo's public awareness campaigns.

The zoo also plans to launch a line of Moo Deng merchandise next month and has moved to patent her image so it can benefit financially from the hippo's popularity. The zoo director, Marongwit Chodchoi, said it took the step to prevent the animal from being commercialised by anyone but the zoo, The Guardian reported.

Pygmy hippos are not native to Thailand, but "zoos have a duty to lead in wildlife conservation outside natural habitats," zoo director Narongwit 'Wit' Chodchoy, 52, told AFP.

"So it's our mission to perpetuate the species for as long as possible."

(With inputs from AFP)