Moo Deng Is an Aunt: A Pygmy Hippo Calf Arrives at Khao Kheow

Moo Deng is an aunt. A pygmy hippopotamus calf was born on November 4 at Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chonburi, Thailand, and the zoo says the newborn is healthy, on its feet and already exploring.

The family connection is the famous one. The calf's mother is Moo Manao, who is 14, and its father is Moo Toon, who is 7. Moo Toon is Moo Deng's older brother, which makes the new arrival her niece or nephew, zoo director Narongwit Chodchoy said.

Nobody knows yet which it is. The calf's sex hasn't been officially confirmed, and its mother isn't letting staff get close enough to check, so the zoo has turned the question into a game. It invited the public to guess the baby's sex, with cash prizes of 5,000, 3,000 and 2,000 baht and five pygmy hippo plush toys for the winners. Entries closed on November 12, and the zoo will announce the results on November 19 on its Facebook page.

The calf is staying close to Moo Manao while the zoo's veterinary team monitors both of them. That protectiveness runs in the family. Moo Deng herself became so popular that the zoo had to impose a five-minute viewing limit to manage the crowds.

Moo Deng was born at the same zoo on July 10, 2024, and became an internet sensation at two months old, after photos and videos of her bouncing, bitey personality spread worldwide. She was parodied on Saturday Night Live, and more than 12,000 fans visited the zoo on her first birthday.

The calf also arrives with an extended family already on the books. Moo Deng's parents are Tony and Jonah, and her full siblings are Nadet and Moo Tun, the new calf's father, with four more half-siblings in the herd. Khao Kheow's pygmy hippos were a working zoo family long before one of them became famous; now the fame has a second generation to attach to. The zoo kept its own staff out of the guessing contest, barring employees of the Zoological Park Organization of Thailand and their families from entering.

Pygmy hippos are an endangered species native to the forests and swamps of West Africa, and every calf born in a zoo breeding programme counts. The newest one has a famous aunt, a protective mother and, within about a week, a confirmed sex and the start of a public life.

What it doesn't have yet is a name. That, based on how this zoo does things, is likely to become a public event of its own.