Moo Deng

Field data

Habitat

Khao Kheow Open Zoo, about 100 kilometers southeast of Bangkok

First observed

2024

Diet

Milk, at her age, being a nursing calf

Call

A short grunt, and a lot of yawning

Composition

Body, 1, small and round. Cheeks, 2, pink.

Conservation status

Endangered

Field notes

Her name means “bouncy pig” in Thai, chosen by public vote to match her siblings Moo Toon and Moo Waan, both named for pork dishes. Zoo footage of her yawning and bouncing drew millions of views and pushed ticket sales past four times the year before. Pygmy hippos are genuinely endangered in the wild, with an estimated two to three thousand left, mostly in West Africa.

At the printer

Keep the cheeks slightly oversized. That is most of what people are printing her for.