Moo Deng, the Toddler Hippopotamus, Is Still a Star

Moo Deng doesn’t bounce like she did a couple months ago.But she still resembles a ripe avocado overstuffed with pâté.She retains a moist sheen.

She snuffles.She yawns.

She naps.She very occasionally sniffs her mother’s hindquarters, then recoils in a springy huff.Mostly, Moo Deng ignores the hundreds of thousands of pilgrims who have schlepped to an out-of-the-way zoo for one reason: her.

She is, somewhat unaccountably, Thailand’s most famous creature in forever, human or pachyderm.Yet if she’s not in the pool, her eyes and nostrils peeking above the water, Moo Deng spends a lot of time snoozing in a secluded corner of her enclosure, sprawled like an abandoned sausage.It is a lot for a 6-month-old pygmy hippopotamus, this life of intense celebrity.

The visitors are mostly respectful, but there are exceptions, both foreign and Thai.There have been incidents of tossed bananas and of splashed water.

The daily annoyances are the shrieks and gasps and the chorus of “Moo Deng, Moo Deng” at every flick of her tail, every wiggle of her bristly jowls.People have fainted in her presence, although Thailand’s sticky heat could have been a factor, too.Last week, Hunter Hackett, a digital nomad from California, joined the Moo Deng receiving line with his wife, Anisi Baigude, a children’s book illustrator.“I used to scoff at these trends, but now I want to be in on the next big thing,” Mr.

Hackett said.“It reminds me of being young and innocent and being excited about, like, Pokémon.”Moo Deng in Thai means bouncy pork, a kind of Super Ball meatball.

(“Moo” means “pig” or “pork” in Thai.) Her siblings at the Khao Kheow Open Zoo in central Thailand include Moo Toon, or Braised Pork, and Moo Krob, or Crispy Pork.A song has been composed in her honor.

It is called “Moodeng, Moodeng,” and boasts a chorus that goes: “Moo Deng, Moo Deng, Deng Deng Deng Deng Deng.”Narongwit Chodchoy, the director of the Khao Kheow Open Zoo, has quick...