US zoo gets its own Moo Deng and launches poll to name baby pygmy hippo
Step aside Moo Deng, there’s a new pygmy hippopotamus in town.
Earlier this month, the Metro Richmond Zoo in Moseley, Virginia, welcomed a baby female pygmy hippo calf whose name will be decided by the public.
The newborn, currently weighing in at 15 pounds, is the third calf to be conceived by the hippo couple Iris and Corwin in the last four and a half years. According to the Zoo, Iris delivered her on December 9 via water birth. She was the second baby to be born around Christmas.
Though standard-size hippopotamuses usually give birth underwater, pygmy hippos can give birth in water or on land.
A grown pygmy hippopotamus can weigh between 400 to 600 pounds, while larger, fully-grown hippos can weigh up to 9,920 pounds and 3,000 pounds, depending if they’re male or female.
The zoo opened the discussion of her name up to the public on December 27 with a poll that includes four choices: Juniper, Poppy, Omi, and Hammie Mae.
Each name holds a significant meaning with Juniper acting as an ode to the time of year she was born; Poppy following suit with her mother’s moniker of a type of flower; Omi because it means “water” in Yoruba (a Niger-Congo language), and Hammie Mae being “a sweet and southern tie to Virginia ham.”
The name that gets the most votes will be given to the newborn. However, a subsequent vote will be conducted if the results show a tie between multiple names.
According to an update posted on the zoo’s Facebook page, the poll received a total of 14,000 participants from around the world in the first 24 hours.
The final decision will be announced on New Year’s Day after the poll closes at 2 p.m. on New Year’s Eve.
“We’re thrilled to see so many people joining in on the fun of naming our adorable pygmy hippo baby,” the Zoo wrote on its social media page.
The excitement and global interest in Virginia’s newborn pygmy hippo comes after a female two-month-old pygmy hippo named Moo Deng from Thailand’s Khao Kheow Open Zoo launched an internet craze back in September.
It wasn’t just that her name translated to “bouncy pork,” though that did humor many, fans were also captivated by the baby animal’s displays of lethargic behavior and playful innocence as she splashed around in pools of water and bit zoo workers. She became the subject of several political memes amid the U.S. presidential election and was even given a say in which candidate she preferred. Showing great foresight, she picked president-elect Donald Trump.
Some Moo Deng-obsessors modeled cakes after the small hippo to sell to other hippo enthusiasts. Bangkok’s Vetmon Cafe was the first of many to make a Moo Deng delectable. However, a few customers reportedly exhibited a moral dilemna, refusing to munch on the edible hippo because she looked “too cute.”
