The web’s most beloved hippo is celebrating her first birthday.
Moo Deng, the pygmy hippo from Thailand who captured the hearts of individuals throughout the globe along with her playful character and goofy antics, is being handled to 4 days of festivities in celebration of her first full journey across the solar.
Workers at Khao Kheow Open Zoo handled the hippo to a three-tier cake adorned with rainbows, flowers, and her favorite snack, watermelon.
Zoo workers put together a cake for Moo Deng, the favored pygmy hippo from Thailand, on her first birthday.
Lauren DeCicca / Getty Pictures
All through the four-day occasion, kids underneath 12 years previous can enter the zoo, which is a few two-hour drive from the capital, Bangkok, without spending a dime.
Moo Deng’s followers, together with adults, have come from far and huge to observe her have a good time.
Amongst them was Molly Swindall, who flew from New York to catch a glimpse of the well-known hippo.
She was seen handing a tray of meals to a zoo keeper for Moo Deng’s breakfast, which the child hippo and her mom, Jona, devoured up.
Moo Deng eats a fruit-topped cake along with her mom, Jona.
Lauren DeCicca / Getty Pictures
“I simply beloved her a lot and determined, you understand what, I’ve three or 4 days off of labor … I could make it work to fly to Thailand,” Swindall advised The Related Press. I’ll solely be there for about 30 hours, however that’s sufficient to go see Moo Deng. And that’s precisely what I did.”
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Zoo director Narongwit Chodchoy stated that by Thursday afternoon, 12,000 folks had visited the zoo, however Moo Deng remained calm amid the hysteria.
Chodchoy stated the variety of guests has dropped for the reason that peak of Moo Deng’s fame final 12 months, and that the zoo has had about 2,000 guests throughout a weekday and round 5,000 throughout weekends over the previous few months — about half the numbers it noticed at its peak.
Followers photographed the child hippo and sang her “Glad Birthday” as she was offered with an elaborate cake.
In the meantime, extra Moo Deng lovers spoke of their admiration for her.
“Moo Deng is my glad capsule, and he or she’s my vitality capsule, my curing capsule. She’s my vitamin!” Thea Chavez, who flew in from Houston, Texas, stated.
One other fan, Jennifer Tang from Malaysia, leaned over the enclosure to take footage.
“She makes me glad. At any time when I’m burdened at work, I pull up images of Moo Deng,” Tang stated. “So my complete workplace is aware of that I’m right here … They let me take per week off.”
The zoo additionally held an public sale 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, started sharing candy movies of her enjoying, hilariously squirming on the thought 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 Pictures
The title Moo Deng, which implies “bouncy pork” in Thai, was chosen by followers. It matches the names of her siblings: Moo Toon (stewed pork) and Moo Waan (candy pork). There may be additionally one other hippo on the zoo named Kha Moo (stewed pork leg).
— With recordsdata from The Related Press
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