Animals across the world are going viral from either cuteness overload to breaking world records, and people can’t get enough of them. Crowds are flocking to see these quirky animals in person to know if it’s really something worth going viral over.
A pygmy hippo named Moo Dang is now famous after zookeepers showed videos of the playful baby on social media. It soon blew up in popularity after people saw the cute temperament this little hippo has. The Khao Kheow Open Zoo is now getting thousands of visitors each day just to see Moo Dang, but pygmy hippos need 13 hours of sleep every day so when visitors come to see Moo Dang she is usually asleep. This causes people to start throwing things or pouring water on her in order to get the little one to wake up.
Senior Haiden Eddleton said, “I don’t know if it’s considered animal abuse. I mean yes it’s a different experience to see her awake but it’s just not ok to throw things. You wouldn’t do it to a sleeping person just to look at them do tricks, so why would you do it to a cute little pygmy hippo.”
A new world record has been set by a baby King Penguin named Pesto at the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium in Australia. Weighing a whopping 50 pounds this bird is the largest nine-month old baby penguin ever recorded. It is bigger than both of his parents combined. Visitors to the aquarium can immediately recognise Pesto among the crowd due to his fluffy undeveloped coat and his large round body.
Senior Julius LaForte said, “I don’t think there’s any specific thing that makes an animal go viral. Some people will pick a really cute animal, others will choose something that’s quite ugly. It just depends on the people’s opinion.”
Every animal is important and deserves lots of love, so just appreciating the wildlife around you could make life that much more special.