Moo Deng turns 1! See how the iconic hippo is celebrating her birthday.

USA Today

7 days ago

Moo Deng's birthday is today! And people everywhere are celebrating her.
"She's an icon, an idol & our ultimate bestie," the Khao Kheow Open Zoo, the zoo where Moo Deng lives in Thailand, said in a post. "Today we're celebrating Moo Deng's 1st birthday!"
Moo Deng and her mother, Jona, celebrated her first birthday by devouring a massive tropical fruit platter while the zoo threw a four-day party.
Moo Deng has reached numbers that some online creators could only dream of, and it isn't hard to tell why. Her chubby, pink cheeks, tummy rolls and adorable expressions had the internet in a chokehold when she first went viral, even inspiring marketing campaigns, like Sephora's "blush like a baby hippo."
The hippo is located in the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in eastern Thailand, about two hours from Bangkok.
Who is Moo Deng? How old is she?
Moo Deng, now 1 year old, is known for making a mess of her food dishes, stomping around and flinging platters full of veggies all over herself.
She was born on July 10, 2024, to mother Jona, 26 and father Tony, 25, with two other siblings Pork Stew and Sweet Pork at the zoo in Chonburi, NorthJersey.com, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK, reported.
In Thai, Moo Deng's name means "bouncing pig."
She is the seventh child born to the hippo couple and is also the sibling of Moo Toon, another famous hippo, Pattaya Mail reported.
Moo Deng is also the granddaughter of Thailand's oldest hippo, Malee, who recently celebrated her 59th birthday. The median life expectancy of pygmy hippos is 27 years, according to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.
How did Moo Deng become famous?
Moo Deng first went viral in 2024, when videos of her throwing temper tantrums, making of mess with her food, trying to bite her trainer and just overall being sassy were posted online by her zookeepers.
The little hippo also garnered attention in November, when the zoo posted a video of her predicting who would become the next U.S. president. She was presented with two fruit dishes featuring former Vice President Kamala Harris' name and another with Persident Donald Trump's name.
She accurately predicted Trump would win.
In May. The hippo went viral again in June after photos and videos showed her sporting a new, glamorous look. The little diva was sporting two green leaves as eyebrows, which made hearts melt.
Content creator Molly Swindall, who goes by @myreputation1989, even flew to Thailand to visit the little hippo for her birthday according to a video she posted to Instagram.
"The cutest moist potato, whose rolls have rolls, is officially a whole year old," she stated in another post. "Life is brighter, funnier, and a lot more fabulous with this pink-cheeked, moisturized legend in it. Happy Birthday, Moo Deng!"
What is a pygmy hippo?
Pygmy hippopotamuses are a small breed of hippopotamus that are native to the forests and swamps of West Africa, according to the San Diego Zoo Wildlife Alliance.
They are known to be solitary and nocturnal, but can sometimes be found in small family groups. Adults grow up to two and a half to three feet high and around five feet in length, weighing between 350-600 pounds.
Thought of as the smaller cousin, pygmy hippos are about half the size of common hippos, weighing less than one-fourth of a full-sized common hippo, according to the Pygmy Hippo Foundation.
In 2016, pygmy hippos were deemed an endangered species by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. A 1993 survey conducted by IUCN found that only about 2,000-3,000 pygmies remained worldwide.