The internet and social media can be negative at times. However, something occasionally goes viral that is pure and genuinely wonderful.
Moo Deng, a hippo, and Pesto, a penguin, are the latest internet sensations. The baby animals have captured the hearts of millions.
Moo Deng, which means bouncy pork in Thai, lives at the Khao Kheow Zoo in Thailand and was born July 10. She is a pygmy hippo, an endangeredspecies of hippo native to forests and swamps in West Africa.
Moo Deng went viral after the zoo shared photos and videos of her. In most of her viral moments, Moo Deng can be seen biting her keepers, being sprayed with water and napping. The Khao Kheow Zoo even set up a 24-hour livestreamto allow viewers a look into Moo Deng’s life and daily habits.
Unfortunately, Moo Deng’s star power poses safety concerns. Recently, the Khao Kheow Zoo had to limitwhen visitors could see the hippo in order to keep her safe, creating a five-minute viewing limit for visitors on Saturdays and Sundays. The change occurred after some visitors threwwater and other objects at Moo Deng. The zoo is committed to the safety and well-being of Moo Deng and all of the other animals.
Just a few weeks after Moo Deng’s rise to superstardom, another baby animal hatched onto the scene. Pesto, a baby king penguinat the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium in Australia, is already bigger than his parents at only nine months old. Pesto weighs almost 49 pounds while both of Pesto’s parents weigh 24 pounds. Pesto gets fed eight fish four times daily, twice as many fish as an average adult penguin.
Pesto waddled into everyone’s hearts after footage of him towering over his parents made its way onto the internet. Pesto was bornn January and is quite the social butterfly amongst the other penguins in his colony. Even pop-starKaty Perry visited the aquarium to see Pesto.
Pesto still has his baby feathers. Once he loses them and develops his adult feathers in a process called fledging, his keepers estimatee will weigh around 33 pounds.
There are scientific reasons behind everyone’s obsession with baby animals. Accordingto Oriana Aragón, a social psychologist, Moo Deng’s round appearance and little fat folds unlock a need to care and look out for her due to humans’ biological programming. Daniel Kruger, a research scientist studying evolutionary psychology, said Moo Deng is designed to be cute and humans are designed to find her cute by evolution.
There is no shortage of content about baby animals and their daily antics online, making people swoon worldwide. Together, Moo Deng and Pesto are providing much-needed relief from the harshness and cruelty of today’s world.
