Thai zoo celebrates famous pygmy hippo's second birthday

A zoo in Thailand celebrated the 2nd birthday of the viral sensation pygmy hippo Moo Deng on Friday, with a large cake made of fruits and vegetables.

In her enclosure at Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Chon Buri, a province east of Bangkok in Thailand, the 2-year-old Moo Deng approached the cake where her mother Jona had already begun digging in.

She started eating steadily, working her way around the cake and sampling the various toppings, including elaborately carved melons for special occasions in Thailand.

Among the birthday celebrators was fan Paulina Inocencio from the Philippines, who was on her second trip to see Moo Deng.

"She's such a gentle spirit in this stressful and crazy world. So people really come here, adults and kids alike, to see this bundle of joy really, and when you see her she has this burst of energy. It's really nice seeing her in person, it's really different," she said.

However the pygmy hippo might not be as cute to some any more. ,She is now approaching a similar size to her mother, distinguishable from a distance only due to the lack of hair on her ears and slightly smaller stature.

The celebration drew a steady stream of visitors, although there were significantly less attendees than the thousands who attended her 1st birthday last year.

Jennifer Tang, a fan from Malaysia, has made multiple trips to see Moo Deng, and approached today with enthusiasm, wearing all Moo Deng-themed clothing. She said that Moo Deng's cute factor still remained.

"Everyone keeps saying that she's too big, she's not as cute, but I think you can see from the crowd that's going to be here that she's still as perfect as ever."

Moo Deng soared to stardom shortly after she was born, largely thanks to her keeper Atthapon Nundee who shared adorable pictures and videos of the baby hippo on social media.

The name Moo Deng, which literally means “bouncy pork” in Thai, was chosen by fans via a poll on social media. It matches the names of her other siblings: Moo Toon (stewed pork) and Moo Waan (sweet pork). There is also another hippo at the zoo named Kha Moo (stewed pork leg).

The zoo that houses Moo Deng also runs breeder programs for many endangered species, including the pygmy hippopotamus. The species is native to West Africa, where it is threatened by poaching and loss of habitat. There are only 2,000 to 3,000 left in the wild.

And while on the second anniversary of Moo Deng's birth, the pygmy hippo remains one of the world's biggest animal celebrities, for conservationists working half a world away in the forests and wetlands of West Africa, Moo Deng's viral fame has yet to translate into meaningful conservation gains for her elusive, wild cousins.

The pygmy hippo is the smaller and rarer of the world's two living hippo species and is listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature.