A viral baby hippo is putting the importance of wildlife conservation at the forefront, but a Toronto professor says videos of the animal could be misleading.
A two-month old dwarf hippopotamus in Thailand by the name of Moo Deng has soared to social media stardom for her meme-quality antics, resulting in a surge in zoo visitors and perhaps an increased awareness for the need to prioritize wildlife conservation.
Having captured the hearts of Thai locals and international TikTok followers alike, Moo Deng has attracted a 30-per cent increase in zoo visitors at the Khaw Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand since gaining popularity on social media, according to Time magazine.
However, some tourists have reportedly been throwing food at Moo Deng to get her reaction, leading the zoo director to consider taking legal action to protect the hippo.
Moo Deng’s stardom could be a double-edged sword, according to Anthropology Professor Laura Bolt from the University of Toronto, who believes that Moo Deng’s popularity will have both positive and negative effects on improving wildlife conservation efforts.
“On one hand, it’s always a good thing when a particularly charismatic animal makes the general public more interested in a threatened species,” Bolt told Now Toronto on Tuesday. “On the other hand, many of the viral videos of Moo Deng show human-hippo interactions—like Moo Deng chewing on the knees of the zookeeper caring for her—which can lead to misconceptions about the natural behaviour of pygmy hippos in wild settings.”
According to Bolt, Pygmy hippos are wild, nocturnal animals that would not interact with humans in their native environments. However, the viral videos of Moo’s active behaviour may lead people to believe that hippos behave actively all the time.
“For example, it is very problematic that zoo visitors have thrown shells at Moo Deng and sprayed her with water because they want her to be active during their visit,” she said.
Despite this, Bolt believes that Moo’s popularity can positively lead people to be curious about different species while bringing more attention to wildlife conservation efforts.
“Ideally, the natural habitat of pygmy hippos should be preserved so that a greater number can be conserved in the wild, and zoo visitors can help fund this,” Bolt says.
According to the Pygmy Hippo Foundation, there are only around 2,000 pygmy hippos left in the wild. At the Toronto Zoo, Pygmy hippos can be paid a visit in the “African Rainforest” location of the zoo.
To better protect the endangered species, Bolt adds that zoo visitors should try not to interact with animals found in zoo enclosures and to use wildlife viewing in a captive environment as a starting point to learn more about animals.
In response to the surge in zoo visitors, the Khaw Kheow Open Zoo announced a new 5-minute maximum visit time rule with the famous hippo and apologized for any inconvenience the time limit may cause.
