A zoo in Scotland has announced the birth of a baby pygmy hippo following the viral fame of social-media star Moo Deng.
Edinburgh Zoo said it had welcomed baby Haggis with a brilliant clip to TikTok on November 4, writing: “Moo Deng? Who deng? Introducing … Haggis.”
A zoo in Chonburi, Thailand, became internationally known after a baby hippo, Moo Deng, went viral online, with thousands coming from afar to see her, and memes saturated the internet.
Moo Deng’s name, translated to English, means Bouncy Pork—and Edinburgh Zoo followed the trend by naming their pygmy hippo after Scotland’s national dish.
A video of Haggis, set to the music of Beyoncé’s “Diva,” shows the newborn hippo carefully exploring her surroundings of warm hay, a staff member gently interacting with her. Newsweek has contacted the Royal Zoological Society of Scotland for comment on this story.
“Haggis is doing really well so far, and it is amazing to see her personality beginning to shine already,” Jonny Appleyard, hoofstock team leader at Edinburgh Zoo, said via Storyful.
“While Thailand’s Moo Deng has become a viral global icon, it is important to remember that pygmy hippos are incredibly rare. It is great to have our own little ambassador right here,” Appleyard added.
TikTok users loved the short clip, which has almost 150,000 likes, and quickly jumped on the reference to Moo Deng, with one writing: “We do NO pit iconic women against each other!”
“Girls please, no fighting,” another posted, while a third commented: “Women unite! Moo Deng and Haggis rule together with equally sparkly crowns.”
And yet another called for everyone to “normalize naming Pygmy hippo after random meat dishes.”
The zoo wrote in the caption that Haggis was born to parents Otto and Gloria on October 30, and is doing well. The hippo enclosure will be closed for a time to allow the baby to be cared for and looked over by expert keepers.
The zoo added: “While Thailand’s Moo Deng has become a viral icon, it’s important to remember that pygmy hippos are endangered and incredibly rare—it is estimated that just 2,500 remain in the wild.”
Pygmy hippos can be found in the lowland forests of Guinea, Sierra Leone, Liberia and the Ivory Coast, and grow up to around 39 inches at the shoulder, according to the Hippo Specialist Group of the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
They are more solitary than common hippos, and can usually be found alone or in pairs. A population estimate in the 1990s stated there were fewer than 3,000 pygmy hippos remaining, and the IUCN Red List later estimated the population at between 2,000 and 2,500 individuals.
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