Is Moo Deng a boy or a girl?

Who is Moo Deng? Only the internet’s favorite hippo influencer. Thailand Zoo’s newest addition to the family is so popular that people are only allowed a five-minute visit. But is Moo Deng a boy or a girl? Here’s the answer.

What’s with all the hippo hype?

Have you SEEN Moo Deng? This precious little baby water cow is ADORABLE, and the internet is excited about it, to say the least. Despite only having existed in this world for two months, Moo Deng has already been @’d in a post from Sephora Thailand, teaching internet denizens to “Wear your blush like a baby hippo.” Of course, all this fame comes at a cost. Visitors have reportedly thrown things at Moo Deng, because people are the worst, and zoo officials have had to limit the amount of time that people are allowed to view the hippo.

So, what’s Moo Deng’s gender?

Despite her hippo parents not having thrown Moo Deng a gender reveal party, zoo officials have confirmed that the little hippo is a girl.

Evidently, hippo culture doesn’t see the appeal of gender reveals. Maybe it’s because they don’t want to start more forest fires. Maybe it’s because they too know that gender is simply a construct and not to be made an undue fuss over. Maybe there are more esoteric reasons held secret by hippo-kind? Unless scientists can develop a human-to-water-horse communication device, we’ll just have to guess. In the meantime, I’m glad that a baby hippo turned into a social media star this summer. If that’s not brat, I don’t know what is.

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Sarah Fimm

Sarah Fimm (they/them) is actually nine choirs of biblically accurate angels crammed into one pair of $10 overalls. They have been writing articles for nerds on the internet for less than a year now. They really like anime. Like... REALLY like it. Like you know those annoying little kids that will only eat hotdogs and chicken fingers? They're like that... but with anime. It's starting to get sad.