Monica Torres is a senior work/life reporter for HuffPost who writes about the workplace, career anxieties and general lifestyle topics. She is a 2016 member of Poynter's Diversity in Digital Leadership class. She is based in New York.
The two-month-old pygmy hippo has become a viral internet sensation and a popular tourist attraction. Moo Deng was born in July at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in Thailand , but she already has thousands of new admirers clamoring to catch a glimpse of her tiny round face and chubby, pink cheeks.Reuters that it usually gets only 800 visitors during the rainy season, but it is now getting 3,000 to 4,000 people on weekdays, with most waiting to see Moo Deng, whose name means “bouncy pork” in Thai.
Moo Deng’s memeification is also likely due to our biological programming to connect with her, Aragón suggests. “The baby schema is probably hooking us ... and creating that sort of line of empathy and sympathy,” she said. “Once we’re engaged to that extent, now the memes are coming.” “Usually it’s this feeling of being sort of overwhelmed by the cuteness, and then you just want to pinch and squeeze and bite,” Aragón said.In Moo Deng’s case, some visitors are taking their desire to engage with her too far. According to a local news report in, the zoo is now urging visitors to avoid throwing objects or causing disturbances to its animals after social media videos of people throwing water and shells on Moo Deng circulated online.
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