The web’s most loved hippo is celebrating her first birthday.
Moo Deng, the pygmy hippo from Thailand who captured the hearts of individuals across the globe along with her playful personality and goofy antics, is being treated to 4 days of festivities in celebration of her first full trip across the sun.
Staff at Khao Kheow Open Zoo treated the hippo to a three-tier cake adorned with rainbows, flowers, and her favourite snack, watermelon.
Zoo staff prepare a cake for Moo Deng, the favored pygmy hippo from Thailand, on her first birthday.
Lauren DeCicca / Getty Images
Throughout the four-day event, children under 12 years old can enter the zoo, which is a couple of two-hour drive from the capital, Bangkok, without cost.
Moo Deng’s fans, including adults, have come from far and wide to observe her have a good time.
Amongst them was Molly Swindall, who flew from Recent York to catch a glimpse of the famous hippo.
She was seen handing a tray of food to a zoo keeper for Moo Deng’s breakfast, which the infant hippo and her mother, Jona, wolfed up.
Moo Deng eats a fruit-topped cake along with her mother, Jona.
Lauren DeCicca / Getty Images
“I just loved her a lot and decided, you already know what, I even have three or 4 days off of labor … I could make it work to fly to Thailand,” Swindall told The Associated Press. I’ll only be there for about 30 hours, but that’s enough to go see Moo Deng. And that’s exactly what I did.”
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Zoo director Narongwit Chodchoy said that by Thursday afternoon, 12,000 people had visited the zoo, but Moo Deng remained calm amid the hysteria.
Chodchoy said the number of holiday makers has dropped for the reason that height of Moo Deng’s fame last yr, and that the zoo has had about 2,000 visitors during a weekday and around 5,000 during weekends over the past few months — about half the numbers it saw at its peak.
Fans photographed the infant hippo and sang her “Comfortable Birthday” as she was presented with an elaborate cake.
Meanwhile, more Moo Deng lovers spoke of their admiration for her.
“Moo Deng is my completely happy pill, and she or he’s my energy pill, my curing pill. She’s my vitamin!” Thea Chavez, who flew in from Houston, Texas, said.
One other fan, Jennifer Tang from Malaysia, leaned over the enclosure to take pictures.
“She makes me completely happy. Each time I’m stressed at work, I pull up photos of Moo Deng,” Tang said. “So my whole office knows that I’m here … They let me take per week off.”
The zoo also held an auction for the privilege of sponsoring Moo Deng’s birthday cake, which went for 100,000 baht, about US$3,065.
Moo Deng went viral on TikTok shortly after she was born when her keeper, Atthapon Nundee, began sharing sweet videos of her playing, hilariously squirming at the concept of a shower, munching on veggies, napping and leisurely going about her day.
Moo Deng is seen sunbathing in her enclosure on the Khao Kheow Open Zoo on Nov. 26, 2024, in Chonburi, Thailand.
Matt Jelonek / Getty Images
The name Moo Deng, which suggests “bouncy pork” in Thai, was chosen by fans. It matches the names of her siblings: Moo Toon (stewed pork) and Moo Waan (sweet pork). There may be also one other hippo on the zoo named Kha Moo (stewed pork leg).
— With files from The Associated Press
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