Moo Deng stuns as a multimedia reporter for The Butler Collegian. Graphic by Eva Hallman.
EVA HALLMAN | MULTIMEDIA EDITOR | ehallman@butler.edu
“unbothered. moisturized. happy in her lane. focused. flourishing.”
These are just some words to describe the hippopotamus that has the world wrapped around her finger.
Moo Deng — whose name means “bouncy pork” in Thai — is an energetic almost-three-month-old pygmy hippo born in early July. She calls Khao Kheow Open Zoo home in Thailand and is the seventh offspring of her family. Her spunky personality has made her a relatable animal meme for brands, sports teams and students.
From her unbothered beginning
For years, the media’s infatuation with animals has grown. From Grumpy Cat to Doge and recently Pesto the baby penguin, animals with unique personalities take the limelight on social media.
Moo Deng rose to prominence via her handler posting videos of her simply living her life on TikTok. Her videos of her munching on grass, being sprayed with water or having tricks played on her reach millions of views.
Junior biology major Kate Thuma is in her Moo Deng era and enjoyed seeing animals other than cats and dogs get the limelight.
“I think the culture loves a cute animal,” Thuma said. “Whenever you can get an animal with an expressive face or [it] seems like they have personality … I think that’s always a draw for people. You see a lot of it with fun dogs and cats, but I think it’s cool that [the trends] moved on to a different species.”
With the increase in popularity comes some security measures. Khao Kheow Open Zoo put in a policy where visitors may only see her for five minutes on Saturdays and Sundays. Zoo officials also installed CCTV cameras due to people throwing things at her to get her to wake up.
The zoo reported an increase in attendance, from around 4,000 people on the weekends to nearly 10,000. For people who love Moo Deng from afar, the zoo set up a 24/7 livestream for people to watch from various time zones.
Raising pygmy hippo awareness
Aside from her cute looks and spunky attitude, Moo Deng is raising awareness of an endangered species. A 1993 population estimate of the Pygmy hippopotamus found that only 2,000 to 2,500 species existed. Since the last population estimate was 20 years ago, the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) expects continual declining pygmy hippo numbers.
The ZSL also stated that a distinct pygmy hippo subspecies that thrived in Nigeria is now extinct. The destruction of forest habitats and hunting is declining the species count.
Sophomore physics major Corbin Austin believes that Moo Deng’s cuteness could help other endangered species gain awareness.
“There’s a lot of animals that just get overlooked,” Austin said. “With Moo Deng, this hippo has brought so much awareness to this species that it might encourage other wildlife preserves to do this sort of same [method] of … using social media as an outlet to bring awareness to these species that are slowly dwindling from our ecosystems.”
Individuals from Khao Kheow Open Zoo are trying to secure her namesake to prevent commercialization. This way, the zoo can utilize the money from Moo Deng merchandise for programs to help her endangered species.
Trending from thousands of miles away
Like most popular trends and memes, brands jump on the chance to connect with their consumers on a relatable level. Moo Deng is no exception, with her exuberant personality shown on thousands of social media accounts.
Numerous Indianapolis sports teams and businesses jumped on the Moo Deng trend, connecting their brand with consumers who love the baby hippo. Tinker Coffee posted a picture of Moo Deng “screaming” to promote their brand. Moo Deng took the IndyCar podium at the Music City Grand Prix.
Helium Comedy Club in Indianapolis posted a picture of Moo Deng biting in promotion of their open mic event. Moo Deng was spotted training for the Indiana National Guard. Lastly, the Indiana House Democrats posted a “Hoosier Dem Meme Dump” with numerous Moo Deng photos.
With Moo Deng popping up on social media feeds in different edited forms, Butler students shared their favorite Moo meme.
While Thuma has yet to see many brands hop on the Moo trend, she likes the simplicity of the original Moo Deng videos.
“I like her screaming [and] her getting splashed with water,” Thuma said. “I think that one’s fun.”
Austin enjoys the screaming Moo Deng edits, especially those of “mass destruction.”
“Recently, I’ve been seeing people editing [Moo Deng] with death metal in the background,” Austin said. “Then other people [are] editing … clips of Moo Deng running around and then cropping [her] in a city for Moo Deng to destroy.”
At Butler, Butler Blue IV posted a series of memes from a scene of “The Office” comparing the bulldog to the hippo. It is one of Blue’s top-performing posts of September, garnering over 8,000 likes.
Evan Krauss, assistant director of digital content strategy and Blue IV’s handler, explains why hopping on trends — like Moo Deng — connects students to the Butler brand.
“I believe, due to [her] innocent and lighthearted nature [students are interested] especially in election years, you can find a lot of negativity on social media,” Krauss said. “Depending on [what social media] platform, it can be a really tough place to be, and when you see an animal on social media, it really is a timeline cleanse, it’s just always positive.”
While Moo Deng’s likeness may be a trend that comes and goes, her presence has already garnered awareness for her species. There are lots of programs trying to save the pygmy hippo species. Fauna & Flora is just one organization that aims to bring awareness to endangered species.
At just under three months old, Moo Deng has helped her endangered species gain media attention while bringing smiles to millions of people worldwide.
