Why do we love Moo Deng, Pesto and other baby zoo animals? Psychologists explain
It's nearly impossible to escape the influence of 3-month-old baby hippo Moo Deng. Over the span of a week, Moo Deng drew in millions of online admirers. The charismatic animal, whose name means "bouncing pig" in Thai, resides at Khao Kheow Open Zoo in eastern Thailand about two hours from Bangkok.
Moo Deng's clumsy antics, including trying to nibble her handler despite not having teeth, have stolen the hearts of people all over the globe. Her viral fame inspired a "Saturday Night Live" skit and a beauty trend that mimics her signature dewy glow. For those on social media, the meme-ification of Moo Deng feels inescapable.
Moo Deng isn't the first zoo animal to achieve viral fame. Last month, an extra-large penguin chick named Pesto went viral, gaining fans far from his home at the Sea Life Melbourne Aquarium in Melbourne, Australia. Cincinnati Zoo is known for hippo siblings Fiona and Frtiz. The list of famous zoo animals goes on. What is it about them that captures our attention and makes them perfect for viral fame? The answer is rooted in science.
Why are we enamored with baby animals?
Moo Deng's cute features resemble that of a human baby – chubby cheeks, big eyes, a pudgy body. The cuteness we see in Moo Deng and other baby animals triggers a nurturing instinct within humans – scientists believe this is an evolutionary trait that has allowed the humans species to survive.
Jay Van Bavel, a psychology and neural science professor at New York University, told Paste BN that there is an evolutionary function to the cute appearance of babies. "The big eyes and the soft cheeks – it makes people treat babies nicer and want to take care of them," Bavel said.
This concept is known as baby schema. Konrad Lorenz, an Austrian ethologist introduced the concept in 1943, describing it as a set of physical features among infants such as large heads, round faces and big eyes that is perceived as cute. The perceived cuteness of infants triggers nurturing and care-taking behavior in adults.
Morten Kringelbach, a University of Oxford neuroscience professor, researches how "cute" visuals influence our brains and drive behavior. Kringelbach wrote that seeing adorable visuals, such as a human baby or baby animals, triggers "fast brain activity" in regions of the brain that are linked to emotion and pleasure. This can influence our attention, The Washington Post reported.
David Barash, emeritus professor of psychology and evolutionary biologist at the University of Washington, told Paste BN it is hard to deny that most mammals developed a kind of inhibition when it comes to being mean and aggressive toward juvenile mammals that show baby schema.
"The baby schema is not only the appearance but also a little bit about the behavior – the uneven gait, wobbliness of juveniles. Whether it's a toddler who's just starting to walk, or an animal that is just starting to walk, we find that cute."
Why did baby Moo Deng go viral?
Search interest on Google peaked in late September after Weekend Update on "SNL" included a segment where cast member Bowen Yang starred as Moo Deng. But before the sketch, interest in the baby hippo had been growing.
Her fame can be attributed to a TikTok account that has more than 3.2 million followers. The account posts videos of the hippos and other Khao Kheow Open Zoo animals. The account's top pinned TikTok of Moo Deng has 35.5 million views.
Moo Deng's online popularity is reflected in her daily visitors: Khao Kheow Open Zoo director Narungwit Chodchoy told Reuters the zoo usually gets about 800 visitors on any given day during the rainy season, "which is a low season." After Moo Deng catapulted to fame, the zoo started getting 3,000 to 4,000 people on weekdays and welcomed almost 20,000 visitors over the weekend, Chodchoy said, adding that most of them came just to see Moo Deng.
Bavel told Paste BN that identifying how interesting or surprising content is can help predict how it will spread online.
"This little baby hippo looks really cute, and people haven't seen a baby hippo before. There's an initial aspect of surprises and interestingness that leads people to share." Bavel added that when information activates emotions in us, it is more likely to grab our attention and more likely to be shared. "And again, all of this is happening in an attention economy." Bavel said.
Once a piece of information, a meme or visual is sufficiently spread, it becomes a reference point for other people to weigh in, Bavel said. People find themselves weighing in even when they're not that interested, because everybody is doing it, he explained.
Zoo animals provide connection during difficult times
This isn't the first time Zoo animals have been in the spotlight. In 2017, Cincinnati Zoo welcomed Fiona the hippo. She was born six weeks premature and struggled to survive. The zoo shared the ups and downs of her journey and fight to stay alive. People started to root for her and followed along online.
Fiona was named "Best Cincinnatian" six out of the past seven years. Cincinnati Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow came second to her in 2024.
Angela Hatke, communications manager at the Cincinnati Zoo, told Paste BN that animal cams helped the community feel connected during the COVID-19 shutdown. The zoo would post live videos featuring different animals almost every day. Hatke said these "home safaris" allowed people to learn about the animals while the zoo was closed.
During the pandemic, the Smithsonian National Zoo in Washington welcomed baby giant panda Xiao Qi Ji. His birth was streamed live on the zoo’s giant-panda cam. Since his birth, millions of virtual visitors have tuned in to see Xiao Qi Ji grow.
In November 2023, Xiao Qi Ji and his parents Tian Tian and Mei Xiang, returned to China as part of a three-year contract with the China Wildlife Conservation. The feed won't be down for long. The zoo recently received male panda Bao Li and female panda Qing Bao, who are both 2-years-old.
Panda express: Washington welcomes two new giant pandas to National Zoo
Contributing: Julia Gomez and Saman Shafiq