Happy birthday, Moo Deng: The beloved gnome hippo in the world to 1-National
The internet’s most popular hippo is celebrating her first birthday.
Moo Deng, a pygmy hippo from Thailand, has attracted the hearts of people around the globe with her playful personality and stupid antics, and he is undergoing a four-day celebration to celebrate her first full trip in the sun.
Khao Kheow staff opened the zoo to treat hippos a three-layer cake decorated with rainbows, flowers and her favorite snack Watermelon.
The zoo staff prepared cakes for the popular pygmy hippo Moo Deng from Thailand on her first birthday.
Lauren Decicca/Getty Images
Throughout the four-day event, children under the age of 12 have free access to the zoo, about two hours’ drive from the Bangkok capital.
Moo Deng’s fans, including adults, come from watching her celebrations extensively.
Among them is Molly Swindall, who flew from New York to catch a glimpse of the famous hippo.
Seeing her handing over a plate of food to the zoo keeper for breakfast at Moo Deng, the baby hippo and her mother Jona devoured the food.
Moo Deng and his mother Jona had a fruit cake together.
Lauren Decicca/Getty Images
“I just love her so much, decided, you know what, I have three to four days of work…I can get it to take off to Thailand,” Swindall told the Associated Press. “I will only be there for about 30 hours, but that’s enough to see Moo Deng. That’s exactly what I did. ”
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Zoo director Narongwit Chodchoy said 12,000 people visited the zoo by Thursday afternoon, but Moon remained calm in a hysterical situation.
Chodchoy said the number of visitors has dropped since Moo Deng’s fame last year and in the past few months, the zoo has about 2,000 visitors, about 5,000 visitors, about half of the number at its peak.
Fans filmed hippos and sang her “Happy Birthday” in her “Happy Birthday.”
Meanwhile, more Moo Deng lovers talked about their admiration for her.
“Moo Deng is my happy medicine, she is my energy medicine, my solidifying medicine. She is my vitamin!” said Thea Chavez, who flew around from Houston, Texas.
Another fan, Jennifer Tang from Malaysia, leaned against the fence to take pictures.
“She makes me happy. Whenever I’m stressed at work, I pull up photos of Moo Deng,” said Tang. “So my entire office knows I’m here…they give me a week off.”
The zoo also auctioned off the privilege of sponsoring Moo Deng’s birthday cake, which costs 100,000 baht, about $3,065.
Shortly after Moo Deng was born, her goalkeeper Atthapon Nundee began sharing sweet videos of her playing, ideas for vegetables, naps, naps and leisurely spending the day.
Moo Deng was seen sunbathing in her walls in the walls of Khao Kheow Open Zoo on November 26, 2024 in Changbury, Thailand.
Matt Jelonek / Getty Images
Fans chose the name Moo Deng, which is “flexible pork” in Thailand. It matches the names of her siblings: Moo Toon (stewed pork) and Moo Waan (sweet pork). There is another hippo Kha Moo (stewed pork legs) in the zoo.
– Documents with the Associated Press
& Copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
