Moo Deng

A tiny pink-grey pygmy hippo, freshly hosed down and impossibly slippery, mouth wide open mid-screech. Most of the photos are slightly blurry because she will not hold still — she's all gums and stubby legs and outrage. There's no joke to assemble here. You just post her. She's the reaction when something is too much: too cute, too chaotic, too loud, screaming about nothing.

She went planet-wide in September 2024. The zoo had to set time limits on visitors because people were chucking water at her to make her react. There was a whole beauty-trend wave around her — Moo Deng nail art, Moo Deng makeup tutorials — and a Saturday Night Live Weekend Update bit where Bowen Yang played her. For about a month she was genuinely inescapable.

Like most animal megastars, the meme half burned out fast — the screenshots stopped circulating once the novelty wore off. But Moo Deng didn't fall off the way a format does. She graduated into the permanent collection of internet pets, filed next to the ones you don't meme anymore but would absolutely still die for. The hippo's fine. The bit is just over.