Moo Deng - Tumblr Posts
know your pygmy hippo bebbies
(L) Moo Toon (braised pork) Moo Deng's older brother. (R) Moo Deng (bouncy pork)
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immediately thought of you wyr
i am so happy this is my legacy, i would do anything for her
Everyone's talking about Moo Deng but no one is talking about Pesto!!
LIKE GOD HE'S HUGE AND WEIGHTS MORE THAN BOTH OF HIS PARENTS
ACTUAL, CERTIFIED CHONKER
wyr we talked abt moo deng for - i kid you not - my entire hour and 15 minute long class today and all i could think about was "damn i wish wyr were here. they'd love this"
REALLY?? i would’ve loved that so much 😔
could you speak more to the point you made about seals in your post about moo deng? i see a lot of videos of seals at aquariums and want to know like, bad things i should be looking out for. thank you for your thoughtful writeups!
Thank you for your question! It's just a pet peeve I've had about people "dog-ifying" seals so they ignore a lot of behaviours that are indications of stress or aggression. And as long as it's memeable the facility's conditions aren't questioned.
Like this:
That water is absolutely filthy and belly slapping (unless it's a cued behaviour) is a threat display. But these videos seem to still be considered acceptable meme content...
A lot of "funny seal videos" are of unsafe wildlife interactions, like divers allowing seals to chew on their gear or people letting their dogs chase and interact with seals. Because seals appear more dog-like and is cute, they are more "meme-able".
A big example of this is Neil the seal, a juvenile elephant seal demonstrating a disturbing level of habituation towards humans and, as he's grown up, is also showing signs of hormonal aggressive behaviour towards things like traffic cones, in preparation for future fights against other elephant seals for territory.
Because he's become a meme though, no one is taking his behaviour seriously and people get way too close to him, despite it being illegal to do so. He shows aggression towards to authorities trying to move him off the road and away from danger as well.
Marine mammal experts had to stop sharing his location so people would stop tracking him down to shove a camera in his face for their viral videos
His aggressive displays are still laughed off as "Neil just being silly and having fun" - but it won't be funny when he's a full grown elephant seal male body slamming cars and fences down. He has been relocated several times and continues to come back because he's been habituated so throughly by the locals.
That's a threat display. He's not a dog. jfc. This guy was even hosing Neil down with water, which was reinforcing enough that he kept coming back.
Remember who else got lots of memes for being so "iconic"?
Yeah.... Poor Freya. She just was looking for a place to haul out and rest and people wouldn't leave her alone.
But the reason why I feel this is similar to Moo Deng, is because she's also having stress and threat displays distilled to "haha she's so mad" memes.
lol it's so funny how mortified she looks..... probably because she's a baby being constantly poked, chased, prodded, picked up, hosed and harassed when she should be hanging out with her mother in peace.
Neil is showing threat displays and aggression, but being ignored and memed into obilivion.
Seals are unfortunately more vulnerable to social media hype, as well as any animal the public deems as cute and "marktable".
btw, since there was a post going around here too about concerns with moo deng’s treatment, here’s a thread that goes more in-depth on her zoo and its facilities, as well as moo deng’s handling
TL;DR: she’s fine. and also be very careful what sources you listen to regarding concerns, because sometimes people let their biases shine through more than anything— be it anti-zoo sentiments, or just blatant racism
i drew moo deng instead of doing my math work
i love her
IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION THAT SOME OF YOU ARE UNAWARE OF MY SOULMATE
BEHOLD!!!!
THIS IS MOO DENG HER NAME MEANS BOUNCING PORK SHES A BABY PYGMY HIPPO AT A THAI ZOO AND SHE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT
GIVE HER LOVE
(pics courtesy of her trainers. thank you @yellowwwcrayon for introducing her to me)
Not to be a killjoy (though it is what I do best) but the unsafe and rough handling of a baby Pygmy hippo in a pretty substandard Thai zoo being meme-ed into something funny and cute really shows just how much groupthink plays into public perception of animal welfare.
Moo Deng shows avoidance, threat displays and stress around her keepers that are constantly man-handling her, blasting her with a hose and harassing her. The enclosure is mostly concrete, which is horrible for her soft feet. There looks to be some substrate but there doesn’t seem to be any areas for wallowing or deep water wading.
There’s also very easy access of this hippo to the public with no places to hide. I’d love if someone could shed more light on the enclosures but from what I’ve seen it’s not great.
Also the free contact and forcing into tubs that the keepers do is only going to create an avoidant and potentially aggressive and dangerous Pygmy hippo.
But the public happily overlook that because she’s cute. It’s a similar attitude with seals too.
Stop rewarding bad husbandry with clout. Baby animals deserve agency and respect and to grow up without getting harassed and feeling the need to defend themselves constantly.
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Had to paint Moo Deng!! I love her so much
can any wildlife caretakers or someone with a similar profession please confirm whether moo deng is alright or not cuz im so scared she (and her other siblings and mother) are not being properly cared for
Even the Archdruid is not immune to Moo-Deng’s charms! 🥺💚
Day 11 - Snack
(moo deng <3 )
IT HAS COME TO MY ATTENTION THAT SOME OF YOU ARE UNAWARE OF MY SOULMATE
BEHOLD!!!!
THIS IS MOO DENG HER NAME MEANS BOUNCING PORK SHES A BABY PYGMY HIPPO AT A THAI ZOO AND SHE IS THE MOST IMPORTANT
GIVE HER LOVE
(pics courtesy of her trainers. thank you @yellowwwcrayon for introducing her to me)
